THE END? New Yorker explains why ‘New York City is dead forever,’ ‘not bouncing back’

Everyone has a love/hate relationship with New York City. It has some of the worst qualities, but it’s unlike ANY city elsewhere in the world. But now, the city that never sleeps may be gone forever. In a recent LinkedIn op-ed, New Yorker James Altucher wrote why he believes “New York City is Dead Forever.” And Glenn agrees: not only is the city completely boarded up due to ongoing violence, but New Yorkers are leaving in a mass exodus. And they’re not coming back. This time, New York may not be “bouncing back” like it’s done so many times before.

NYC IS DEAD FOREVER. HERE’S WHY

I love NYC. When I first moved to NYC it was a dream come true. Every corner was like a theater production happening right in front of me. So much personality, so many stories.

Every subculture I loved was in NYC. I could play chess all day and night. I could go to comedy clubs. I could start any type of business. I could meet people. I had family, friends, opportunities. No matter what happened to me, NYC was a net I could fall back on and bounce back up.

Now it’s completely dead. “But NYC always always bounces back.” No. Not this time. “But NYC is the center of the financial universe. Opportunities will flourish here again.” Not this time.

“NYC has experienced worse”. No it hasn’t.

A Facebook group formed a few weeks ago that was for people who were planning a move and wanted others to talk to and ask advice from. Within two or three days it had about 10,000 members.

Every day I see more and more posts, “I’ve been in NYC forever but I guess this time I have to say goodbye.” Every single day I see those posts. I’ve been screenshotting them for my scrapbook.

Three of the most important reasons to move to NYC:

• business opportunities
• culture
• food

and, of course, friends. But if everything I say below is even 1/10 of what I think then there won’t be as many opportunities to make friends. =

A) BUSINESS

Midtown Manhattan, the center of business in NYC, is empty. Even though people can go back to work, famous office buildings like the Time Life skyscraper is still 90% empty. Businesses realized that they don’t need their employees at the office.

In fact, they realize they are even more productive without everyone back to the office. The Time Life building can handle 8,000 workers. Now it maybe has 500 workers back.

“What do you mean?” a friend of mine said to me when I told him ‘Midtown should be called ‘Ghost Town’, “I’m in my office right now!” 

“What are you doing there?” 

“Packing up,” he said and laughed, “I’m shutting it down.” He works in the entertainment business. 

Another friend of mine works at a major investment bank as a managing director. Before the pandemic he was at the office every day, sometimes working from 6am to 10pm. 

Now he lives in Phoenix, Arizona. “As of June,” he told me, “I had never even been to Phoenix.” And then he moved there. He does all his meetings on Zoom. 

I was talking to a book editor who has been out of the city since early March. “We’ve been all working fine. I’m not sure why we would need to go back to the office.” 

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