I spent close to ten years living in Brooklyn and during that time, I learned a lot about myself, my likes. dislikes. preferences, etc. I left there in August of 2020 and moved back to Upstate NY to a much, much smaller city. I realized that I missed some of the most basic things that a city has. The things that I miss the most are local restaurants, shops close by (within walking distance or a quick bus/subway ride), decent public transportation, sidewalks, movie theaters. In my new city, there weren't sidewalks by my apartment building and there was also no shoulder on the side of the road. When there was snow on the ground, I would have to walk in the middle of the lane just to be semi-safe. There were shops nearby and by shops, I mean a Target, Starbucks (which was closed often during COVID), 2 grocery stores, a CVS and a few others. If you needed a laundromat, you had to take a bus and either walk the rest of the way or take a bus to the local community college and transfer to a northbound bus. The nearest city that was accessible by bus was 20 miles away, but offered many restaurants, shops and other businesses.
I have since moved further north and east and although my current city has sidewalks, there are fewer businesses that are accessible without a vehicle. The nearest bus stop that takes you to either Wal Mart or Target is over a half mile away and only runs once per hour for each location. What my current city needs are more businesses. There are a few restaurants downtown including at least two breweries, a sporting good store, a consignment store, a jewelry store and about 5 other small businesses. These shops and eateries are centered on just two city blocks with not much outside of that area.
If this city would expand their public transportation system to run more buses more places, run them past 6pm, run them on Sundays and holidays, allow tax or zoning ordinances to allow companies to bring in new housing (preferably mixed use) and bring in new businesses, it would greatly improve the city as a whole.
So many times I've regretted leaving Brooklyn and moving back Upstate as I feel that it was a huge mistake on my part. I lost the upward mobility I had gained in my career. I lost my freedom of movement, my autonomy. I lost the ability to just hop on a bus or subway at 5pm to go to dinner, a movie or just for a walk in another neighborhood, something I did fairly regularly. I have since moved to a VERY small town (not by choice) and am 2 miles from the nearest main road and 8 miles from the nearest town. I have zero mobility here and am desperately trying to get back to a major city.
