Please don’t go

 “It is vain for the coward to flee; death follows close behind; it is only by defying it that the brave escape.”

—Voltaire

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

I’M glad Neil Sedaka, 81, is not among those residents in Manhattan’s Upper West Side now moving out of New York City.

I recently told a friend in jest “let’s hope Mr. Sedaka, estimated to be worth $100 million, and other celebrities in Manhattan will not join the reported exodus of residents fleeing New York City these past weeks, so we can apply as their caregivers in the near future.”

I once told our colleague Regine Algecera to “watch out for Yoko Ono (who once stayed in the iconic Dakota apartment on 72^nd Street and Central Park West) she might one day need a Pinay caregiver.” 

I’m waiting for another Ilonggo friend, Manhattan-based Gigi Gumban, to “give me another senior client soon” before the fabulous West Upper Side will become a “ghost town” for lucrative clients. 

Many families have been reportedly leaving the Empire State to the suburbs and other states after it was revealed residents in the Upper West area were planning to sue the city after thousands of homeless people were put up in 139 luxury hotels in the neighborhood in a controversial attempt to stem the spread of COVID-19 amid the ongoing pandemic.

The popular American pop singer, pianist, composer and record producer, who mesmerized his fans by recording a “special message of hope” to the tune of “Oh! Carol” at the height of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) savagery in March this year, in fact, continues to hold mini-concert until today.

We hate to see some prominent residents abandon the Big Apple and go to other states. Please don’t go.

 

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These past weeks, we have been bombarded with news of the “exodus” as natives of the typically upscale neighborhood say the moving in of the homeless people has caused an increase in crime, random violence, drug use, public urination and open prostitution.

Some locals claim sex offenders have also moved into the streets.

Bloomberg News reported new data shows that people flooded out of the Empire State during the pandemic, as 67 percent of all long-distance moves were made by people leaving New York while only 33 percent were by people moving in.

Compiled by United Van Lines from March 1 to Aug. 19, the data reportedly puts New York second in the nation only to New Jersey, where 69 percent of people who moved skipped out while only 31 percent of moves were by people entering the Garden State.

It was reported that Connecticut trails closely behind in fourth place with 64 percent of moves being people who left the state.

 

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Long lines were reportedly seen outside of a number of U-Haul stations in the neighborhood across Saturday and Sunday, with moving vehicles lining residential streets and discarded furniture stacked on sidewalks left by locals seeking pastures new.

At the moment more than 13,000 homeless people are being housed in 139 hotels across the Big Apple, including three luxury hotels—The Belleclaire, The Lucerne and The Belnord—on the Upper West Side. 

Residents of the area have reportedly hired an attorney to sue to city into transferring the homeless back into shelters where they can receive the help they need.

The top three states to reportedly welcome people moving in were, Vermont, Idaho and Oregon.

In Vermont, only 25 percent of moves were people leaving the state, while 75 percent were people moving in. Idaho saw only 33 percent of people who moved heading out of state, while the rate in Oregon was only 37 percent.

“We have seen increased mobility across the states—driven by a fear of living in densely populated areas, a realization that the ‘old normal’ of commuting into a city office is still but a distant possibility, and the realization that remote work can be an effective, long-term option,” Gregory Daco, a chief US economist at Oxford Economics, was quoted by Bloomberg.

 

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But William Frey, a demographer and Brookings Institution senior fellow, said he believed the exodus of urban destinations such as New York won’t last forever.

Frey said: “These recent population shifts, if real, will be short-lived and change when the pandemic subsides. Young adult Gen Zers could find cities attractive.”

MSN has reported that a video tweet from conservative news pundit Greg Kelly showing long lines outside of a U-Haul outpost in New York City went viral this past weekend, prompting online debate about an "exodus."

"Big lines this morning at UHAUL," Kelly tweeted. "CATASTROPHIC setbacks in quality of life—people have had enough."

Darrell Best, a concierge at a luxury condominium building across the street from the U-Haul, told Business Insider he saw lines that stretched down the block over the last few days, longer at the end of this month compared to prior months.

"I think it's very much pandemic related," Best said. "People are afraid, so a lot of people are moving."

But most people waiting in line at that same U-Haul location in Manhattan who spoke to Business Insider recently weren't leaving the city at all. Of the seven interviewed, only three people reportedly planned to move out of the city. 

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two dailies in Iloilo)