For a person who has difficulty ordering in restaurants because everything looks good, choosing between Manhattan neighborhoods can be a challenge. When it came time to rank anesthesiology programs, I had a list of my top five programs, each with something unique to offer. In the end, it came down to choosing a city: New York, besides being close to my extended family in Philadelphia, is a city that has more to offer than perhaps any other American city and is a place where I hope friends will want to visit!
Now it's time to decide on Manhattan neighborhoods. On the cardinal-directionally-correct map below, I've listed a few advantages of two of the main contenders.
7 comments:
What about the Bronx? Or Harlem?
I only interviewed at Manhattan programs, so somehow I'm philosophically opposed to living in the Bronx, even though I'm sure there are great deals to be found.
As far as Harlem, I'm not exactly sure how the subway lines run, but typically it's harder to get width-wise across Manhattan than to travel its length.
And as far as safety: True, Washington Heights probably has more crime than the Upper West Side. However, put in perspective, New York is one of the four safest cities (with populations >500,000) in America. Per fbi.gov, its "crime index" (which is a function of overall crime per capita) is approximately half of the Texas city in which I now live.
Living in a big city means that you're just going to have to deal with a certain level of crime, and take the risk. I mean, it's not like every place can be the posh suburb where no one looks their doors and there's one murder every 500 years.
Right-o. I can accept a certain level of crime. I would just like to be informed of what that crime rate is. And my point was that even in a less safe Manhattan neighborhood, it's actually much safer than many other large cities.
I had dinner last night with some friends who lived in NYC for many years, and I posed your dilemma to them...They stringently opposed you living in Washington Heights - the crime issue.
They suggested the Upper West Side or the southern end of Harlem (below 110th St. I believe, but I can't recall exactly).
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