Tonight, coming at you Live and Direct from New York City, the greatest city in the World… Yes, there are other great cities apart from Wellington, and it’s interesting to compare how the original Gotham city stacks up to our own mini-Manhatten.
This city is amazing, but also amazingly civilized in both buildings and people. We’re only here for a few days, but there is evidence of planning and building codes everywhere, including the graceful stepbacks of the haunches of the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building, right down to the height of buildings relative to the width of the street. I’m staying in Greenwich Village and the leafy trees hide the 4-5 storey facades on these narrow side streets, whereas on the wider Avenues the buildings soar up 20 stories. Lessons to be learned here for back home in Te Aro.
Traffic, both pedestrian and vehicular, is incredibly well behaved. Yes, so everyone sneaks through the last second of a red light, but there are no red light cameras, and you know what – they’re not necessary. On the side streets there is no honking allowed ($350 fine and 2 points off your licence for some offences) while on the big Avenues with 5 or more lanes of yellow taxicabs there is just a steady peeping and parping, no revving of engines and no boy racers with blow off turbo kits. Cyclists are well catered for, with most streets having a well demarcated cycle lane and as a consequence there is no need for futile measures such as helmet, hi vis gear, or, it seems, lights on your bike. There are, of course, the odd skateboarder around also doing battle on the roads, but also quite a few electric bicycles that noiselessly whisk their way to work.
What is really noticeable however is the pedestrian life here. Wide, wide sidewalks, enough to ensure no jostling, and amazingly many of the old walks are made from giant slabs of solid granite, although modern sidewalks are concrete now. It’s hard on your feet. No time for niceties such as coloured bricks. But the shops are here, on every inch of ground floors on the main roads, catering for your every need. And in New York, your every need seems to be: built to last. Stainless steel or brass fixtures everywhere, do it once, do it right.
The big thing in town right now is the iPad – Apple have commandeered every single advertising board in the city it seems and everyone wants one. After all, everyone already has an iPhone.
I’ll finish up by saying: Wellington needs a Light Rail system. The Subway here works like a dream, fast and without incident, resplendent new stainless steel and aluminium cars transporting you 10 blocks in 3 minutes, and really stitches the city together. Meeting uptown in half an hour? Not a problem when you take the subway. No annoying snapper worries either – their paper card system works flawlessly on bus or train.
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