Hi. My name is Philip and I am the host of the Dad, nobody wants to listen to you podcast. I have lived and visited New York in each of the last four decades, and after my last trip in July 2023 to visit my son and family members, I was inspired to investigate some social issues from my perspective as an American - Englishman living in Germany, who has seen New York and America change more dramatically in the last ten years than the combined 40 years. I will be investigating some of the biggest issues facing New Yorkers and visitors to the Big Apple, such as Rents and accommodation, Drug policy in particular the consequences of the recent liberalisation of Canabis. I will find out what has happened to the subway system and why it is losing 500 million dollars a year to fare evasion. I will talk with those who know about the consequence of rampant gentrification, and spiralling living costs. Homelessness, Healthcare, Crime and the environment.
My son says "Get a grip Dad, nobody wants to listen to a white middle-aged man rant." Let’s prove him wrong shall we?
Hi. My name is Philip and I am the host of the Dad, nobody wants to listen to you podcast. I have lived and visited New York in each of the last four decades, and after my last trip in July 2023 to visit my son and family members, I was inspired to investigate some social issues from my perspective as an American - Englishman living in Germany, who has seen New York and America change more dramatically in the last ten years than the combined 40 years. I will be investigating some of the biggest issues facing New Yorkers and visitors to the Big Apple, such as Rents and accommodation, Drug policy in particular the consequences of the recent liberalisation of Canabis. I will find out what has happened to the subway system and why it is losing 500 million dollars a year to fare evasion. I will talk with those who know about the consequence of rampant gentrification, and spiralling living costs. Homelessness, Healthcare, Crime and the environment.
My son says "Get a grip Dad, nobody wants to listen to a white middle-aged man rant." Let’s prove him wrong shall we?
Tourism in New york is a huge money spinner and employer for the folks who live and work there, as well as the local and state government through taxation.
In 2022, New York City welcomed 56.7 million visitors, up from 32.9 million in 2021.
Visitation is forecast to grow to 63.3 million in 2023 and surpass 2019 levels by 2024.
International visitation rebounded in 2022 to 8.9 million visitors, more than triple the
2021 volume and 69% of the 2019 benchmark.
I look at the history of New York Tourism, as well as warn you about the Tourism Traps !
The cost of living in New York is the highest in the world and joint first place with Singapore. London prices are also sky high where a state of crisis has been declared. why do New Yorkers feel so poor, and what are the different factors at play here - apart from the obvious one like Rent ? Is there fraud going on in the grocery business that is cashing in on the high prices?
Support the showIt is consistently ranked as one of the dirtiest cities in the world. Why is this? Is it because of the large population and lack of space, or not enough recycling? Or is something else at play? Let’s take a closer look at some of the reasons why New York City is so dirty. Private Landfills by 2029 will be nearly a $200 Billion a year business, so do we really care to make NYC waste free ?
Further Reading
https://www.retroreport.org/video/voyage-of-the-mobro-4000/
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/07/can-jessica-tisch-make-new-york-city-less-disgusting.html
https://www.thecut.com/2023/04/rat-pity.html
https://nylcv.org/news/nyc-needs-common-sense-waste-management-now/
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/29/nyregion/nyc-recycling.html
https://climate.cityofnewyork.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/OneNYC-2050-Summary.pdf
Crime and New York are in the minds of the public, almost interchangeable. Crime is rising to levels last seen in the 80s and 90s, however the politicians are in denial about this and parade statistics that attempt to gaslight us into thinking they have it all under control. I look at the true state of affairs in New York City, as well as rememeber how crime is also mainly a racial issue as well as a media perception maker that sells papers. Crime is mainly the predicatable outcome of all the failings of numerous New York City governments, with the solutions available if only politicians would be honest enough to admit there is a problem!
Further Reading:
https://abcnews.go.com/US/case-settled-1989-central-park-jogger-believes-person/story?id=63077131https://criminalminds.fandom.com/wiki/Matias_Reyes
https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2022/04/nypds-neighborhood-safety-teams-are-mostly-making-low-level-arrests-data-show/365450/
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/federal-monitor-people-nyc-stopped-searched-frisked-illegally-99857085
https://nypost.com/2023/07/12/70-in-nyc-dont-feel-safe-eric-adams-so-stop-the-media-spin/
https://www.nydailynews.com/2023/06/06/nyc-residents-stopped-more-often-by-police-than-in-2022-minorities-still-more-likely-to-be-searched/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11144065/NYPD-orders-officers-not-CHAT-unless-police-necessity-patrol.html
I explore how New York City has managed and justified a school system that remains highly segregated. Today, in the seven decades since Brown v. Board, only a smattering of New York City public/private schools reflect systemwide demographics by race and income. Schools with some racial and economic diversity are not uncommon, but they are far outnumbered by schools with an overwhelmingly Black and/or Latino school population. Due to underfunding and other structural issues, the majority of segregated schools are put at a pronounced disadvantage in serving their students – affirming the Supreme Court’s ruling that “separate education facilities are inherently unequal.”
Further Reading.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66748182
hhttps://nypost.com/2023/09/11/nyc-migrant-crisis-is-a-disaster-for-learning-for-all-kidsttps://journalistsresource.org/education/hasidic-religious-private-schools-goldsmith-how-they-did-it/
https://www.cityandstateny.com/policy/2023/02/exclusive-new-york-city-schools-create-working-group-phasing-smaller-class-sizes/383443/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kerrymcdonald/2023/03/02/the-not-so-secret-world-of-low-cost-new-york-city-private-schools/
https://www.studyinternational.com/news/harvard-acceptance-rate-private-school/
https://www.salon.com/2023/02/24/what-will-be-best-for-my-child-public-school-or-private/
https://readlion.com/k-12-public-schools-in-nyc-cost-nearly-40000-per-student-thats-more-expensive-than-the-average-private-university/
https://readlion.com/k-12-public-schools-in-nyc-cost-nearly-40000-per-student-thats-more-expensive-than-the-average-private-university/
https://nypost.com/2023/02/23/anti-charter-ny-politicians-send-kids-to-60k-private-schools/
https://www.schools.nyc.gov/enrollment/enroll-in-charter-schools/learn-about-charter-schools
https://nypost.com/2023/06/11/charter-schools-outperform-public-schools-in-us-with-ny-results-among-the-best-in-the-country-study/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_schools_in_New_York
https://ballotpedia.org/Charter_schools_in_New_York
https://www.collegetransitions.com/blog/private-high-schools-nyc/
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/6/19/muslims-opposed-to-lgbtq-curricula-for-their-kids-arent-bigots
https://www.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/058-23/mayor-adams-launches-breaking-bread-building-bonds-citywide-combat-rising-hate-foster#/0
https://www.thirteen.org/blog-post/segregation-new-york-city-schools-continues/
New York healthcare is facing a socio-economic crisis. A New York Times opinion piece explained that,
“Arguably the biggest outlier is the New York health care system. Prices for drugs, medical procedures and doctors’ visits are all substantially higher in New York State than in other State, and most countries.”
This is compounded by another fact, which is that “New Yorkers are far from the world’s healthiest people.” (Opinion, NYT, 7/2/2020) That so many people died in the New York because of COVID, over 600,000 lives lost (in the USA in total,) is an unfortunate testament to this problem.
While New York may have a number of wonderful hospitals and medical care, healthcare is not equally available to everyone. Consequentially, economically and socially disadvantaged residents who do not receive the same quality of care are at greater risk for being unhealthy.
Further reading.
https://jacobin.com/2023/08/gustavo-rivera-new-york-state-senate-single-payer-health-care
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/080615/6-reasons-healthcare-so-expensive-us.asp
https://www.express.co.uk/travel/articles/1714347/british-expats-usa-new-york-real-life
https://www.healthline.com/health/where-can-i-go-for-medical-care-without-insurance#prescription-help
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ambulance-rides-costs-consumers-arent-protected-surprise-bills/
https://ripmedicaldebt.org/cost-of-therapy-in-new-york-city/
https://www.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/451-23/mayor-adams-signs-legislation-increasing-health-care-pricing-transparency
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/12/us-financial-cost-covid-coronavirus
https://www.nysna.org/problem-ny-healthcare-crisis-solution-make-nysna-stronger
https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2021/A6058
https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2021/A6058
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affordable_Care_Act
https://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(15)00164-3/pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRwvdXeriDg
https://info.nystateofhealth.ny.gov/health-insurance-explained
https://eu.lohud.com/in-depth/news/2022/09/14/ny-hospital-executives-paid-millions-in-bonuses-salary-as-covid-raged/65411150007/
New York City is facing a level of homelessness - not seen since the Great Depression in the 1930s.
That’s according to the Coalition for the Homeless, a not-for-profit.
As of mid-August, there were more than 110,000 people sleeping in the city’s shelter system each night.
And that number doesn’t include the thousands of unsheltered people who sleep on the streets.
Compounding the chronic problem is an influx of asylum seekers, who now make up more than half the sheltered population.
Just in !!!!
Update October 5th 2023
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/04/new-york-city-right-to-shelter-law
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/09/11/esuh-s11.html
Weed has been legal in New York since 2021, but the state is still working out regulating, licensing and taxing it differently than any other place — and the new system is still a mess with over 4000 illegal shops and only 17 legal dispensaries in the whole state of New York. What is going on, who are the winners and losers, what can be done before public health is corrupted, and the crime legalization was supposed to cure - just gets worse!
Gentrification is a process of urban development where a previously working-class or low-income neighborhood is transformed into a more affluent and expensive one, often through the influx of more affluent residents and businesses. Gentrification leads to an exodus of longtime residents who can no longer afford to live in areas where they were born and raised, because the cost of housing skyrockets and forces them out. However, gentrification can be driven by a variety of factors, including economic changes, government policies, and shifts in social attitudes. I look at the history of Gentrification in New York and discuss my opinion of the area of Buswick in Brooklyn that is the latest ethnic area to be gentrified.
Support the showHousing is considered affordable when it costs about one third or less than a person’s total income, but in New York, people are often shelling out a lot more than that. New York City is an expensive place to live. This much is obvious. But in the months since the city has emerged from the doldrums of Covid-19, this feels especially true.
In this episode I look at rent controls, Laws, vacant appartments, and reasons why the housing stock lags so behind the demand for it, and the ever rising number of people wishing to live and work in this Great town which causes rents to skyrocket.
Whether it’s people jumping the turnstile, unlatching easy-to-reach emergency exit doors, or hopping on a bus without paying, the MTA says fare evasion is rampant across the city.
Yet even after a dramatic increase in enforcement, the transit system lost $690 million to fare evasion last year, officials say. Now, the M.T.A. is grappling with a more existential question that is not about how to crack down on fare evasion, but about whether criminal enforcement is the right approach at all.
In this episode we look at the history of Tipping in America, some personal observations of the state of play including the psychological and technical methods used to get tips. I will look into why tipping is a big problem not only for customers, but also for the managers of the service sites, and the employees. I want to share with you my research on Americas growing falling out with tipping, as well as look at alternative models to tipping.
Support the showWhen was the last time you purchased something in New York and you were not asked for a tip?
Not only are there requests to tip on purchased goods and services, but the amount of the traditional tip also has been on the rise for decades.
Support the showHello and welcome.
I’m Philip Skitch, and I am the host of the Dad, No-body wants to listen -Podcast.
This podcast is inspired by my recent visit to New York in July 2023, a place I have been going to and living and working in sometime in each of the last 4 decades. My son told me that nobody wants to listen to a middle-aged white man rant about his views of New York, so I created this Podcast to have a discussion about aspects of living and working in New York, and I hope by you listening and commenting, we will prove my son wrong!
Support the show