NYC apartments

So those built before 1961 (without balconies) aren't hugely popular? Sorry if I have that wrong - I wasn't sure!

 

Balconies above the third floor scare the crap out of me, especially if someone has pets or small children. The standard height railing is just not even close to being enough and if you make it enough to be effective then why not just glass it in and have space you can actually use? Suicide launching pads are useless IMO.

 

Actually, I've been there, and was very happy to leave the first opportunity I had (a mandatory business situation)... and that was before '9/11', back when NYC wasn't nearly as unbelievably horrible as it is now....

Oh, yes, New York City, in my not-so-humble-opinion, is a truly dysfunctional, desperately terrible cesspool of pain, parasitism, crime, greed, and utter misery! It's hard to imagine a place in the entire First World I would want to live in LESS than anywhere inside New York City... a very real 'piss-hole in the snow': https://moneyinc.com/worst-neighborhoods-nyc/

 

The financial capital of the world. Maybe you just couldn't handle it.

BTW, with all it's commerce, every time you drive on a paved road, you can thank NYC for the federal tax dollars to pave them. If you even think otherwise, I suggest you review the costs of paving because there is no chance in he!! that state dollars pay for it

 

when I say 'fire' in this case, I meant the fire (including the smoke it creates)

but I agree, the smoke is often what gets people

 

Really? We're very used to them here, since you won't find a tower apartment without one! I don't think we've had a pet or child fall from one in many years, either. Just doesn't happen. People aren't that careless.

 

It was in this case. They couldn't escape the smoke, because it permeated their apartments and the hallways etc.

 

yep, agree

 

Or stolen off the walls along with pipes and wiring

 

Is this for real?

 

I was in Chicago in the mid 1970's and yep, the people living there tried to complain about the police refusing to go in but hey, they would get ambushed, targeted. They finally just had to tear them down.

 

Public housing, yea.

 

But aren't they LIVING in those apartments? Which means any damage will affect them?

 

I've turned down apartments that had them. I don't think many people do but they are highly overrated IMO

I had a cat who delighted in the way my face would blanche when I noticed her on the railing. I thought I had lost her to a "return" when she disappeared shortly after we moved but she returned and had simply found a new companion. (She had kittens some months later )

 

How do you spend time outdoors, in that case? Not having a private outside space means you can only ever be outdoors in a public place. Are you okay with that? I couldn't stand it, personally. I have to have private space in the open air and sunlight - else I lose my mind.

I don't mean to intrude upon your cat's private life, but how was it that she wasn't spayed?

 

No one thought of breaking a window. Sad.

 

You'd have to take that up with whoever left her at my gf's. She is now and she never leaves the house. The kittens are all safe, gracing good homes.

I have no problem with open space as long it's not several hundred feet above the ground. If It is I won't even open a window.

 

Balconies aren’t universally popular. Read the link.

 

They didn't have to break a window. They were safe in their apartments and panicked and ran into the hallway where they were overcome by smoke and died. Unless the fire or smoke is actually in you living space breaking a window is a bad idea. People died in the 1980 MGM fire in their sealed hotel rooms where they were safe by breaking windows and allowing the smoke to come into their rooms. Put a rolled up wet towel at the base of your closed door to stop the smoke from coming into your room/apartment.

 

Said from ignorance.

It doesn't make a difference if "towers are crammed together like sardines" in your picture. The vast majority of NYC buildings are already built without balconies. Many are directly adjacent to the buildings next to them. You would have to knock them all down and start over. You evidently have no clue how compact parts of NYC are. You would have to reduce living space to make room for balconies which would increase the cost per apartment. Buildings cannot be expanded not only because of property lines but NYC has endless regulations of how far buildings must be from the sidewalk and with width of streets. Multiple dwelling residential NYC real estate is my business and you obviously have no concept of how it works. As soon as I read "why would the richest city in the richest nation on earth not be able to pay for them?" I dismissed this as liberal fantasy.

 

No balconies in Manhattan...? I'm SHOCKED! Wouldn't everyone want to step out on a balcony at their high-rise and look at all THAT crap?!

 

How would you from 20 yrs ago.

That said, i will add my experience.

Grew up in nw part of ct, some hunting and and fishing with my dad showed some real run down places. Now go literally just outside ft bragg, nc, remember tobacco road, ft polk, la, and talk about run down, some shacks outside ft huachuca, az. !!!

 

That's most curious! Here it's the polar opposite. VERY difficult to rent or sell an apartment without a balcony.

I wonder why people there don't need an outdoor space for their mental wellbeing, if nothing else? What happens when they have those ordinary daily cravings to be outdoors? No balcony means they have to enter public corridors and lifts etc, then go out into public - possibly crowded - streets. That seems like a dystopian nightmare.

 

I was only thinking of those built after 1961, actually.

 

While I agree with you on the views ... sitting outside for 20 minutes with a cup of tea and book is something you can do even on the smallest balcony, and it's incredibly important to be able to do that. Vitamin D, fresh(er) air, maybe a couple of potplants to care for, some alone time, etc etc. So many pluses, even in a crowded city.