It seems the Big Apple is rotting at the core. Despite a star studded list of attractions and things to do in New York, the hits just keep coming in. Last week, I wrote about NYC being a major attraction point for dark travel, as in people who come to New York City with the intention of committing suicide. Following up on that, this week brings a slew of articles detailing what else is wrong with New York. Photo by DF Shapinsky for PINGNews.com/Shapinsky MultiMedia via Flickr (Creative Commons)
First is an article in Der Speigel, which says that cities like New York are beginning to look like old has-beens, when compared to the magnificient construction going on in the emerging economies and the developing world.
Economically booming megacities — such as Beijing, Shanghai and Dubai — where extravagant skyscrapers are shooting up all over, mean that cities like New York are beginning to look old and outdated, despite attempts to modernize. In Europe, the eastern part is beginning to look more modern than the western part. Cities like Istanbul and Moscow are more dynamic than London, Paris or Milan. There have never been this many skyscrapers on the drawing boards, and most of them are planned for the world’s new boomtowns. The West is eyeing this development with jealousy, all the more intense for its inability to compete. The massive downturn in the American credit market has caused the cancellation or postponement of many major architectural and urban-planning projects. - Battle of the skyscrapers, Ulrike Knöfel, Frank Hornig and Bernhard Zand, Der Spiegel, June 9 2008
Well, they could always change the City’s name to York… Sorry..The British already have that.. Maybe Sad York.
Then there’s this survey from the New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene which finds that genital herpes is common among New Yorkers. The Health Department reported today that more than a fourth of adult New Yorkers are infected with Herpes Simplex Virus-2, the virus that causes genital herpes. The new study suggests that genital herpes is more common in New York City than nationally (26% of adults versus 19%). Among New Yorkers, the rate is higher among women than men (36% versus 19%), higher among blacks than whites (49% versus 14%), and higher among men who have sex with men than those who don’t (32% versus 18%).
Translation: Don’t try to get laid when you’re visiting New York City.
Add in to this mess the bedbug invasion of hotels, subways, schools, parks and just about everywhere, and the fact that the AAA thinks it costs $606 for meals and lodging per night for a couple in New York City, and the rush hour traffic, crowded stores, nasty cabbies, and tourist trap restaurants, and it might be an understatement to say that New York City has problems.