Dear Death,
Before Covid, I rented an apartment in New York City’s Hudson Yards. It was my dream to be right in the middle of New York City and a convenient walk to my office. Now my work is remote and the Hudson Yards is empty and depressing. The big mall is deserted. I’m thinking of breaking my lease and moving out. Maybe I’ll go home to Connecticut for a while? But I’m worried as soon as I leave, life will get started again. Should I break my lease or stay put?
- Bret from NYC
I understand you are in frustrated. You were expecting the hottest new development in New York City and now you are living in a shiny glass tomb. That’s what big empty expensive spaces are. Tombs. Reporters are calling it the ghost capitol of a ghost city.
The place you rent an apartment was subsidized by about 2 billion dollars. To keep it from becoming a ruin, experts expect another two billion in subsidies. But the money will not stop it from being empty and depressing for you. Expect it to get even more empty as time goes on.
All this money spent on empty halls is not different from the ancient Egyptians building Pyramids that rose above the hungry and poor. It isn’t so different from the medieval cities of Europe building cathedrals while a quarter of the population died of the black death. The Hudson Yards mall of designer brands wont fall in disrepair because the powerful hope people like you will return in force. Maybe someday you will.
In this case the tomb vibe is unintentional. They promised you Hudson Yards would be filled with life of the rarified and affluent sort. But these top-down, trickle down, developments are not how people make lasting homes. A mall is not a community. A church to money and consumer culture is not a town, or a tribe or a neighborhood. The problem is in a development like Hudson Yards, you are not citizens of a shared home, you are customers. When the going gets tough, customers will shop elsewhere. Times are tough and you are thinking of going elsewhere.
If you want to be in a New York City that is not empty, I can tell you that neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens are full of people and businesses trying to thrive even in the worst times. The reason other places in New York are bustling right now is that Jane Jacobs was right and Robert Moses was wrong about what makes a resilient community. People do not want to face the worst life throws at them as customers of corporations and mega-properties. They want to be where their families and neighbors will have their backs.
We are in the middle of tough times. I can’t say how long they will last. I can say that even if the good time comes back, the music can stop at any time. Think about where you want to be then.
If you want to feel like you have a home, don’t be a customer. Be a citizen. Join or form a block association. Get involved. Don’t buy a slice of rarified air surrounded by glass and expect a community to be there for you. If you feel you can be a Citizen in the ghostly halls of Hudson Yards, I salute you. Otherwise, you’ll be happier moving.
Good luck,
Death ;-)
Do you have questions you’d like Death’s perspective on? Send them to askdeath@wecroak.com
About This Advice Column
Ask Death is loosely inspired by an ancient Stoic spiritual exercise called The View From Above. It’s about looking at your problems from a larger perspective. When done well, this perspective leads to transformation of our views on the world, deeper meaning and equanimity where before there was confusion and stress. We know The View From Above works so we’d like to share it with you in this advice column. Also, getting advice from death is hilarious and fun. This is content you don’t want to miss before you die.
P.S. If you must know, the person writing for Death is WeCroak App Co-Founder Hansa Bergwall. He is doing his best to set aside all personal opinions and views to answer questions from the perspective of death. So Death may say lots of things where Hansa would disagree. But hey, Death is probably right.