What Makes New York A Great City
When Dean Elena Kagan said “HLS is like New York”, I thought it were fetishism of big cities, or maybe just brag of her own hometown, though nothing else she had said left me such impression. I would like to be a duff rather than a city-lover. Having been in Beijing for 8 years and visited Shanghi for countless times, I had lost intrest in big cities. New York should be one of them, I thought.
But the past four days in New York changed my attitude towards big cities. The first thing produced such an effect was the subway. I was afraid of subway in big cities, but New York was not that bad. I found stations easily and changed a train without constantly looking for help from others. Even after I made a mistake, I got back to the right train soon–with an unlimited week pass. I forgot to mention the reasonable price of the pass, which costed me only $24. The second thing was the food. In the past 4 days I tasted at least 4 different flavors, delicious and cheap. The best food, which must be Chinese food, dwells in every corner of the city. The third might be the efficient management of the city. Take, the free event, as an example. The city held a Museum Day yesterday. It was very, very fun. Today I spent half an hour in line in the Central Park and got two tickets for a Shakespere Show in Delacorte Theatre. There are a lot of free events during the summer. Without efficient management, it just could not happen. Now I am sitting in the New York Public Library, again for free. I ordered a book on Foucault and in 10 minutes it reached me.
What makes New York a great city, a free and dynamic place, full of energy?
Maybe it can be attributed to the mayors. My friend, a New York citizen of real sense, told me what had been done by the mayors. For instance, Giuliani, formerly the head of police in New York, improved the public security of the city; the current mayor Bloomberg, formerly a business man, has adopted the idea of managing the city as efficiently as managing a company. The famous Central Park, a classical design for big cities, was built with the support of Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia.
(Intro of Giuliani,see http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/giu0bio-1)
More, if not just governmental officials, could be found from ordinary people. I saw the ordinary people’s history in New York, from Museum to the details of life here. In one of the museums, the changes of neighbourhood were documented and photographed, providing a vivid history for ordinary people in the neighborhood. The graffito, which still can be seen today but rarely, became an image of the city, created by people and for people. It is these people in the city makes me surprise–energetic, diverse and creative.