Pandemic exiles steadily returning to Manhattan nabes: Stringer
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
New York City’s population is slowly
growing in the months amid the
pandemic, especially in The Village
and Lower Manhattan areas.
Using data from the United States Postal
Service’s (USPS) change of address forms,
the offi ce of Comptroller Scott Stringer
released a report analyzing the pandemic’s
impact on monthly migration patterns into
and out of the city.
“New York City is steadily reopening
and New Yorkers are returning to the city
we love—that’s why it’s vital that we invest
in the value proposition that is New York
City and make sure we continue to be the
best place to live, work, and raise a family,”
said Comptroller Stringer. “That means
investing in our classrooms and teachers
so our children get the very best education,
investing in affordable and accessible child
care so parents can return to work, and
investing in our streetscapes and green
spaces to ensure that our neighborhoods
are walkable and breathable. We have
a once-in-a-generation opportunity to
reimagine our city and build back stronger
than ever from the losses of the pandemic.”
According to the data, New York City’s
net residential out-migration tripled from
2019 to 2020. The wealthiest neighborhoods
in the city experienced the most
population loss; residents in the wealthiest
10 percent of city neighborhoods, as measured
by median income, were 4.6 times
more likely to move than other residents
during 2020.
The data found that by zip code, the largest
residential losses in New York City as a
whole during 2020 occurred in the Upper
West Side, with zip codes 10025, 10023,
and 10024 having the highest change in
move-outs over the course of the year. In
these zip codes, 10025 lost 9,274 residents
in 2020; 10023 lost 7,976 and 10024 lost
7,311. The next highest losses were found in
Chelsea’s 10011 zip code with 7,622 losses
in 2020, followed by the Upper East Side
zip code 10128 with 7,119 losses.
From June to September 2021, the city
overall lost a net 39,961 residential movers,
a slight improvement from a net loss
of 40,494 in 2019. However, since July
2021, data from the USPS shows that there
has been an estimated net gain of 6,332
permanent movers. The largest net gains
happened to be in neighborhoods such as
Chelsea/Midtown, Murray Hill/Gramercy,
Battery Park City/Greenwich Village, and
Chinatown/Lower East Side, all of which
experienced greater fl ight when New Yorkers
were leaving the city.
As to where these New Yorkers went
after leaving the Big Apple, Comptroller
Stringer’s report found that many picked up
and moved to Florida, with net in-migration
PHOTO VIA GETTY IMAGES
increasing by 93,601 during 2020, growing
from infl ows of 82,943 in 2019 to 176,544
in 2020 in the Sunshine State. The Second
highest net gain was found in Texas with a
46,238 net gain.
Read the full report at comptroller.nyc.
gov.
In West Village, Schumer calls for relief from high gas prices
BY DEAN MOSES
Senate Majority Leader Chuck
Schumer argued on Nov. 14 that New
Yorkers’ fi nancial tanks are running
on empty thanks to the sharp rise in gas
prices since last year, and the lawmaker
called for federal action to ease the pain.
Standing in the shadow of the Mobil
gas station on 13th Street and 8th Avenue
in the West Village, where a gallon of 87
octane gasoline costs a staggering $4.33 a
gallon, Schumer charged that drivers are
getting drained by the infl ated fuel costs.
Soaring in price from $2.12 last year for
a gallon of regular unleaded fuel to $3.42
and even higher in Manhattan in 2021,
Schumer says the gasoline is too darn high.
“Today, our economy is reawakening
from COVID, and supply and demand
can’t keep up with the global desire to
return to normal ASAP. But getting back
to normal of course would take time, and
it would mean fuel prices would remain
in fl ux. When gas prices go up, families
pinch and pinch and pinch. Less money
for groceries, less money for everyday
expenses, less money for the high cost
of prescription drugs, which we’re trying
to do something about in our Build Back
Better bill,” Schumer said, pointing at the
Mobil gas pump.
Schumer told reporters he is urging
President Biden to approve the sales of
fuel from petroleum reserves until the
Build Back Better Agenda is implemented
through the Strategic Petroleum Reserve
(in turn tapping about 600 million barrels).
This is not an unaccustomed request
from the senator; in fact he touted that in
2005, he successfully urged then-President
George W. Bush to tap into the same
reserves when gasoline prices surged following
Hurricane Katrina, which damaged
Gulf Coast oil refi nery operations.
This plea comes directly before the
holiday season, a time when he believes
it is vital for the economy to spring back.
Schumer blames the price hike on the
deadly virus and the economic crisis it
wrought, yet feels the reserves, while not a
long-term solution, is key to alleviating it.
“So that’s why I’m urging the administration
to tap that reserve. Get the prices
down. And then we have to embark on a
full-time campaign to get us away from
carbon fuels all together, which will reduce
all of the ups and downs that we see with
gasoline, with oil, with home heating oil,
and everything else. Our plan isn’t a cure
all. It’s a temporary solution to deal with
the problems of price shocks caused by
fossil fuel supply, but it can ease prices for
holiday travel. It can ease prices across the
country and certainly here in New York,”
Schumer added.
The Build Back Better proposal will be
brought to a vote in the House this week
and then the Senate. Schumer claims the
legislation would include investment in
green power sources (wind, water and
solar) that would help decrease the amount
of carbon released in the atmosphere by
50% by 2030, move to electric vehicles
through clean cars in America; and reduce
Americans’ dependence on oil.
PHOTO BY DEAN MOSES
Schumer says gas prices are weighting heavy on drivers.
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