I love New York City, and in my eyes, there are so many things to love about this complex place;
– the many different neighborhoods that retain their culture and don’t “melt” into each other
– the beautiful architecture of building old and new
– the never-ending list of activities to do
– the new restaurants that are always popping up
– meeting people from all over the world visiting my home.

Keep New York City Special

These are just a few of the reasons I enjoy living in this special place. Yes, a lot of this can be said about other cities but just like people, each city has a character that draws energy to it. And like a person whose many experiences shape them, in this city, places and neighborhoods make it precious and the #SaveNYC project is about saving New York City from becoming like every other metropolis with sterile nationwide chain stores, losing its charm and in tow all the small businesses that are being aggressively pushed out.

The program was started by  Jeremiah Moss, blogger of Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York. His blog is a written history of forgotten New York and as of late documentation of the death of New York’s “special”. What I mean by that are the places that make this city memorable; secret hangouts, places in the know, neighborhood gems that we’ll swear by, are disappearing because of predatory leases, the octopi a. k. a. chain stores, and other reasons, these facts water us down and make us bland.

It’s become so common for favorite places to shut their doors that it isn’t even newsworthy anymore. So Moss started the grassroots project to help, #SaveNYC keeps the pressure on, creates petitions, and has been covered by local news media, and print. But where do you go when even the man who is calling attention to the changes in our beloved city gets tired? Jeremiah announced on his blog this month that he’s decided to move on and that will just be another lost part of New York that will be wiped away like the neuralyzer in Men In Black.

Let’s Keep Our Neighborhoods

From losing Carnegie Deli, Woolworth’s Department Store, Gimbel’s Department Store, Sunshine Theater, Ziegfeld Theater, and most recently the Coffee Shop in Union Square, New York City threatens to become homogenous midtown of highrises that no one can actually rent from because the rents are so high. I mean, there is only one Jeff Bezos and he won’t even be Jeff Bezos after he loses half. So why do we need to fill the city with apartments that only he can buy? And while we’re at it stay out of Queens, Amazon!! And Governor Cuomo,stop chasing him!!

What You Should Do To #SaveNYC

Fight for your little coffee shops, bookstores, and mom and pops because it is really alarming how quickly every trace of them is going. And be the gadget-crazy generation that we’ve become and take pictures of every corner because you never know what store or building is next to be demolished. Tag it #SaveNYC so everyone can follow a precious piece of New York that is in danger of being lost. This isn’t a one person job in a city as big as this.

Thanks to Lauren at Girl In Gotham City for reminding that I had this post in my drafts after she alerted her Instagram followers to the fact that the Westsider Rare & Used Books was being threatened to be shut down and saved at the last moment due to a GoFund Me. And guess what happened? That little GoFund Me saved that bookstore and those people did their part to keep New York City that full of character place that it is instead of a copy and paste city that it can turn into if we stay quiet. Who wants to live in SimCity anyway?

What’s your opinion of the changing skylines in NYC? Is this happening in other places too? What do you think should be done about it about it? Let’s chat in the comments below.

Until our next rendezvous…

XOXO

Trudy