POST-PANDEMIC REPORT, NYC EDITION: So I’ve heard a lot about what’s going on in NYC, and hadn’t been there since before the pandemic. Visited this weekend and looked around. It’s a mixed bag.

Generally speaking, things are pretty open. Masking in restaurants is optional, and in my observation nobody was doing it at the places we went to, which ranged from super-expensive to dirt-cheap. (Staff was masked everywhere, of course, as masking requirements apply most strictly to the servant class). You saw surprisingly few people on the streets or in Central Park (I’d say less than 1%) who were masked outdoors. They were almost exclusively Asians who by dress and mannerisms appeared to be foreign.

Subway riders, however, were extensively masked, as required by NY Transit rules. There were, however, mask-resisters:

I visited Carmine’s, scene of a BLM-activating incident, but it appeared to be pretty busy. I noted that the hostess desk, and apparently a bouncer, were all black, possibly not a coincidence.

I would say that restaurants were not empty, but not as full as I would have expected on a beautiful fall weekend. Over 50% probably, but nowhere close to full, even in peak brunch hours. I don’t know if that’s people avoiding the vaccine mandate (which in my experience was pretty laxly enforced) or just people out of the habit of going out, probably some of both. I don’t envy NYC restaurateurs right now.

Outdoor dining is everywhere.

One striking thing is that everyone was super-nice, from waitstaff, to people in shops and stores, to just folks we talked to on the street. I got the feeling that folks are trying really hard. The same was true even at the Newark Airport (!) and from the cabin crews on our flights. I think it’s an instinctive response by people to the nastiness that’s out there on social media and just plain media.

In front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, one of the kiosk sellers was pushing Curtis Sliwa for mayor, and loudly encouraging everyone to vote.

But it’s hard for a lot of people. We were picked up from the airport and taken back by a Dominican friend we’ve known for years, who told us that his community has been hit hard by the loss of service jobs and tourism. You see a lot of people on the streets and in Central Park, he said, but they’re mostly daytrippers from New Jersey, and they don’t spend much money compared to the real tourists. His daughter starts at the Police Academy soon. He hopes the anti-police hate will have faded by the time she hits the streets, and he had a more nuanced view of the interrelationship between police behaving badly, which he witnesses sometimes, and the consequences of underpolicing, which he’s witnessing all the time now, than one gets from most pundits.

I think there’s hope for the Big Apple, particularly once they get rid of De Blasio. I just hope they’ll be smart enough never to elect someone like De Blasio again, but I have my doubts.

Taxis and Ubers, by the way, are much more expensive than pre-Covid. And drinks in bars and restaurants, too. I don’t know if the latter is a Covid thing or just owners trying to boost their margins on items people will pay a lot for, but I’m suspecting the latter. Also, many stores and boutiques are short on merchandise due to supply chain issues. Actual groceries and restaurant food are pricier than before, but not nearly so much as booze.

Despite the food prices, people on the streets, the subways, and in Central Park seemed on average a bit fatter. Plenty of people weren’t fat, but overall I’d say the median has shifted about 10 pounds to the right.