My Kind of Town

My blog plans have been altered by the terrible events in Paris. It is hard not to feel helpless in the wake of senseless, murderous violence carried out against innocent people going about their daily lives. And Paris is such a symbolic target: for so many around the world it is the City of Light, a standard for beauty, grace, and style which then themselves seem to be under attack as well. Coming as it does directly on the heels of the attacks on the Russian airliner and a Sunni neighborhood in Beirut, this latest attack brings the conflict home for everyone. Regardless of religion or nationality, we are the target of religious extremists who, without knowing a thing about us except that we are not just like them, want us dead.

I don’t know what effect, if any, the attack will have on our local housing market. Surveillance, for all its inconveniences and abrogations of civil liberties, does appear to have made New York safer in the last decade and a half. What I DO know, now more than ever, is how blessed most of us are to have homes in which we feel safe and to which we can return with a sense of comfort and arrival. This gift, which we mostly take for granted, resonates more strongly at moments like these. Refugees pour out of the very countries where ISIS has strongholds, families and many lone teenagers hoping to find a better, safer life in the West. And we are already here, housed and fed, often forgetful of our good fortunes.

Earlier this week, I spoke to a class at Queens College, from which I received a Masters Degree in 1979, about running a business. I admire the college because so many of their students graduate debt-free. It all felt a little stilted at the beginning, as I looked out at the sea of faces, but I and they loosened up over the hour during which we interacted. I came away profoundly moved by the experience. Queens College draws a local audience, and there is no greater melting pot in our entire region than Queens. The students were native-born and naturalized Americans. They were African-American, Latino, White, Chinese, Indian, Arabic – every ethnicity seemed represented. They asked a lot of questions: how had I learned to run a business? (pretty much by the seat of my pants); was it hard to figure out how to work with balance sheets? (no, as long as you have some grasp of arithmetic) and so on. Many came down at the end of the conversation to ask if they could e-mail me to learn more about real estate. Of course I said yes.

As I saw the terrible news Friday about these most recent attacks I thought of the class – how people from all over the world still come to New York and the United States to seek opportunity.  Every parent wants a good life for her child, and every child needs hope. Without hope, radicalism seems attractive. Our city will continue to thrive as long as we retain our commitment to absorbing strivers from all over the world with open arms. My heart overflows with empathy for the French, the Lebanese, the Russians, the refugees fleeing oppression in the Middle East and everywhere. I know how lucky I am when I say I am SO proud to be a New Yorker.