It has been strange being in the epicenter of the US recession here in New York. I know, some would argue maybe Detroit is more of the center with the stumbling car industry, or Florida, with its high foreclosure rate. Yet, in New York, the intersection of media, finance, real estate, and tourism built this booming city, and that same intersection appears to be the site of some of the worst train wrecks in this economy.
I know no one devastated by Madoff's trickery. I don't even know a bonus-starved banker. I do hear about friends of friends laid off in the Midtown Media world, and just yesterday, three attorneys contacted me separately to say they had been laid off and were handing my specific deal to another, luckier barrister.
I do see the City changing, and I feel a bit like a front-row witness to the decline of the City. New York is different than when I arrived.
Personally, I see the recession in the shockingly empty stores, and in the starved look on the faces of retail clerks as I walk in and say "Just Looking." Every morning, I see it through the "For Rent" signs popping up in the windows of the charming small businesses I pass on my walk to work. I currently count eight closed stores from my stroll of eight blocks and one avenue.
I feel it in the way "dinner with friends" is becoming "drinks with friends." Usually, one drink. No one feels like celebrating much anymore. I hear it in the elevators when co-riders whisper of their father's lay-off or the lay-off of their own co-worker. I read it in the constant fretting of blogs and the NY Times that, just maybe, New York's brightest day is behind it, and the world now rotates around Washington DC.
New York is still great, and I know enough about this City to know that it will come roaring back. After all, time will always start in Times Square, and I just don't see the Senate becoming Wall Street in any way except as a shareholder.
So, in the meantime, I plan to do my best to enjoy Recession-Era New York. I will be visiting more museums, and spending more time in the Park. I will buy from local stores, focus on things I can control like my health and well-being...and try to limit my own fretting.
And wait for the roar again.
