New York is Back: Rediscovering the City’s Energy and Vitality Post-Covid

Like America, New York is back. The most densely populated city in UNITED STATES was hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, to the point of being nicknamed Ghost City. The recovery was long and not without consequences: more than 4,500 bars and restaurants have closed in three years and half of Manhattan’s office towers remain unoccupied. But the cosmopolitan city has now regained its bubbling energy: tourists are returning – more than 63 million visitors expected this year – and the inhabitants, who went green during the health crisis, have reinvested in the premises.

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With a new scent: the smell of cannabis, which has been floating in some streets since its sale was officially authorized at the end of December. 175 smoke vap shops have received their license and several hundred more are in the process of obtaining it. New shops among many others, restaurants and bars, which are constantly being created, even if we still pass in front of many empty windows in Midtown.

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For all budgets

After the pandemic, New Yorkers have regained a taste for the outdoors. They rediscover, on foot or by bike – more than 2,400 km of cycle paths, an exceptional effort for an American city – the diversity of their neighborhoods, from Hell’s Kitchen, in full revival to Manhattan, at trendy Williamsburgin Brooklyn.

The newly renovated Washington Bridge, which spans the Hudson River towards New Jersey, is packed with walkers admiring the skyline.

Despite the surge in inflation, crowds flock to the pedestrian shopping streets, shop, fill restaurants and rooftops, and intend to take advantage, from May, of street fairs, night markets or open-air festivals. -air.

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Prices, insane in the most popular restaurants, do not prevent queues, and there is always something to eat for all budgets in the five boroughs, from gourmet (73 starred restaurants) to the most economical. The stalwart “pizza principle” remains in effect, whereby the price of a slice remains more or less equal to that of a subway ride, or $2.75.

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Rediscovered dynamism

The recovery is here. While unemployment had soared to double the national level, Big Apple has now virtually made up for all job losses attributed to the arrival of the coronavirus. Rents, hampered by the time of the Covid, are soaring again: the vacancy rate in Manhattan has fallen to a low, below 2% and the median rent has exceeded 4,000 dollars for the first time. And the municipality is carrying out an ambitious investment program: building everywhere, in particular to modernize transport and finally equip itself with a railway network worthy of large cities. After the inauguration in 2021 of the Moynihan Train Hall station and its huge glass roof, in the west of Midtown, the city has just opened Grand Central Madison on the East Side, a monumental project that places JFK airport at a thirty minutes from Manhattan (against a big hour by subway).

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Finally, cultural activity has resumed its hectic pace. On Broadway, while some shows had to stop for two years during the Covid, around twenty new shows are on display this year. The musicals even now have their own museum, which opened last November. The Lincoln Center has regained its magic with the reopening in October of David Geffen Hall, home of the city’s legendary philharmonic orchestra, finally equipped with acoustics to match.

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Admittedly, in New York, life is expensive, crime remains a black spot and there are 60,000 homeless people, but the city is “stronger than ever”, affirms its Democratic mayor Eric Adams. Who decided to launch a new communication campaign on the resilience of New Yorkers. The 46-year-old slogan “I Love NY” has been replaced with a “We Love NYC” displayed in all souvenir shops. To the glory of a Big Apple to bite into.

File coordinated by Gaëlle Macke, produced with Frenchmorning.com
Contributors: Alexis Buisson, Olivia Garcin, Elisabeth Guédel