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Longest walkable distance within MTA property


Porter

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On 11/11/2017 at 3:04 PM, Porter said:

Such a connection, in conjunction with the Gimbel's tunnel and 6th Avenue passageway, would have made this incredible underground walk possible:

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This is something that needs to be done.  As long as you can make it bright with cameras throughout the concourse that can show everything (and are so tiny they can be hidden from view as well in many cases), it should be safe, especially if people know there are cameras throughout the course as well as alarms people can hit very easily to alert police.  

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1 hour ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Seems like a real PITA walk, especially in "FiDi" as you like to call it... :lol:

Is FiDi another hipster transplant/real estate brokerage portmanteau? Cuz I always thought it was just called Downtown for everything but Battery Park below City Hall/Two Bridges.

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31 minutes ago, Deucey said:

Is FiDi another hipster transplant/real estate brokerage portmanteau? Cuz I always thought it was just called Downtown for everything but Battery Park below City Hall/Two Bridges.

Growing up we always called the area Financial District "Downtown" or sometimes The Financial District if we really wanted to be specific. This "FiDi" thing is new.  The area used to be pretty much dead since it was a business hub and nothing more, but since they started building high end places for people to live, they had to come up with some swank name for the place.  Nevertheless, I don't hear any natives using "FiDi".  I think most just say I live in Downtown and if pressed further they'd say specifically where.  

I have to be frank in saying that most of these areas are still pretty dead in terms of amenities and restaurants.  I've had to be in Battery Park City for business and will be for at least the next few months, so I've been making a point to walk around before my meetings to discover places to eat.  One turnoff is how out of the way the neighborhood is.  Places to eat are few and far in between and expensive (of course), but for that price, the quality lacks.  You need to go out of the neighborhood if want any real options aside from the few places I've seen.  The closest subways are a schlepp.

Meanwhile in the Downtown area IMO is still rather dead outside of work hours.  You have multiple train lines, but I've never found the area appealing. The streets are so damn narrow and confusing and dark because of the buildings. Scaffolding everyone with people chain smoking non-stop.  If I had to live down there, I'd take Battery Park City.  At least it has a more residential feel and nice views depending on how high up you are.

24 minutes ago, Missabassie said:

Where the hell did this "two bridges" come from?? I've seen it on maps recently, its like they gotta put a fancy name on everything <_<

I have never heard of that term before... Definitely a new thing...

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36 minutes ago, Missabassie said:

Where the hell did this "two bridges" come from?? I've seen it on maps recently, its like they gotta put a fancy name on everything <_<

That’s a Real Estate descriptor to say “on the other side of the river from DUMBO but not in Chinatown.

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3 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Growing up we always called the area Financial District "Downtown" or sometimes The Financial District if we really wanted to be specific. This "FiDi" thing is new.  The area used to be pretty much dead since it was a business hub and nothing more, but since they started building high end places for people to live, they had to come up with some swank name for the place.  Nevertheless, I don't hear any natives using "FiDi".  I think most just say I live in Downtown and if pressed further they'd say specifically where.  

I have to be frank in saying that most of these areas are still pretty dead in terms of amenities and restaurants.  I've had to be in Battery Park City for business and will be for at least the next few months, so I've been making a point to walk around before my meetings to discover places to eat.  One turnoff is how out of the way the neighborhood is.  Places to eat are few and far in between and expensive (of course), but for that price, the quality lacks.  You need to go out of the neighborhood if want any real options aside from the few places I've seen.  The closest subways are a schlepp.

Meanwhile in the Downtown area IMO is still rather dead outside of work hours.  You have multiple train lines, but I've never found the area appealing. The streets are so damn narrow and confusing and dark because of the buildings. Scaffolding everyone with people chain smoking non-stop.  If I had to live down there, I'd take Battery Park City.  At least it has a more residential feel and nice views depending on how high up you are.

I have never heard of that term before... Definitely a new thing...

Most of my generation and those older still call the area "The Financial District" as well, as do many from outside the US as I understand it.  Yes, the area NOW is actually more residential than business but even 30 years ago that was not the case.

It was only in the early 1990's when the area started to become residential as office buildings were converted to apartments.

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11 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Growing up we always called the area Financial District "Downtown" or sometimes The Financial District if we really wanted to be specific. This "FiDi" thing is new.  The area used to be pretty much dead since it was a business hub and nothing more, but since they started building high end places for people to live, they had to come up with some swank name for the place.  Nevertheless, I don't hear any natives using "FiDi".  I think most just say I live in Downtown and if pressed further they'd say specifically where.  

I have to be frank in saying that most of these areas are still pretty dead in terms of amenities and restaurants.  I've had to be in Battery Park City for business and will be for at least the next few months, so I've been making a point to walk around before my meetings to discover places to eat.  One turnoff is how out of the way the neighborhood is.  Places to eat are few and far in between and expensive (of course), but for that price, the quality lacks.  You need to go out of the neighborhood if want any real options aside from the few places I've seen.  The closest subways are a schlepp.

Meanwhile in the Downtown area IMO is still rather dead outside of work hours.  You have multiple train lines, but I've never found the area appealing. The streets are so damn narrow and confusing and dark because of the buildings. Scaffolding everyone with people chain smoking non-stop.  If I had to live down there, I'd take Battery Park City.  At least it has a more residential feel and nice views depending on how high up you are.

I have never heard of that term before... Definitely a new thing...

I'm not really attached to the name, but I've been hearing it over the past decade, so it eventually stuck with me. I don't like tacky trendy monikers either, but I will admit that it's useful for separating the pre-9/11 business from the post-9/11 residential incarnations of the neighborhood. Financial District is fine too, so whatever, I'll start using that name again like I originally had.

However, I have to stress that the Financial District is a hyponym of the hypernyms "Lower Manhattan" and "Downtown Manhattan," so they are not interchangeable. Although there's a range of tolerance spanning from Chambers Street to the north until Vesey Street to the south, I believe that the Financial District encompasses the entire peninsula with Murray Street and the Brooklyn Bridge serving as its northern boundary (cutting across the road at the foot of City Hall, which is not included). Given the turf war with the ever-expanding "TriBeCa", I believe this to be the fairest compromise, and the architecture reflects this boundary rather consistently. While I concede that Battery Park City, with its crystal clear boundaries, is technically distinct from the Financial District, I feel comfortable grouping them together, since the WTC begat BPC in the first place, and being anchored by the WTC-connected WFC, it serves as a kind of 'add-on' or 'expansion pack' to the Financial District. Given its small size and shared border (although a small portion of this border is shared with "TriBeCa" under my definition), I would prefer that BPC be considered a sub-neighborhood or sub-district of the Financial District, just personally speaking; BPC is practically our child.

As for places to eat around BPC, I'm sure I needn't remind you of Hudson Eats at the WFC (or "Brookfield Place" I guess). My personal recommendation is Benvenuti, a few blocks south of the WFC, which has affordable personally cooked pasta dishes that are absolutely top-notch, as well as great pizza of course. It truly is one of the few gems in the neighborhod, and unfortunately the other non-ritzy pizza-pasta places around it don't come close.

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15 hours ago, Wallyhorse said:

Most of my generation and those older still call the area "The Financial District" as well, as do many from outside the US as I understand it.  Yes, the area NOW is actually more residential than business but even 30 years ago that was not the case.

It was only in the early 1990's when the area started to become residential as office buildings were converted to apartments.

I worked there in the 70s and we used to just call it Wall Street.

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