Real Estate around the Country & NYC Police Commissioner Bill Bratton

Soon to be spending some time in an apartment in NYC, this is what I’ve learned so far about rentals there and in other major cities….

                           Down The Road with the Original Buffalo Dale

 Welcome back. As business will soon be taking me back to New York City I’ve been checking out apartment rentals and thought you might find rental rates there and around the country interesting. I’m also bringing you a profile of the new top cop in NYC who I find very interesting. I may try to interview him while I’m there.`

When I’m in the city time is always important so location is critical because long subway and bus rides are just too slow. Most of my business is in the Rockefeller Center and Times Square areas but there is a limit to one’s budget and I’m finding that rentals in these locations are just too expensive for me. As an example, one bedroom 1 bath units with mini kitchens in a nearby 58 story high rise building start at $3,495 a month. They are nice but I need something quite a bit cheaper. Rooms at hotels in Manhattan start at about $400 a night which might work out for a short stay but I need a better long term alternative. It turns out that there are a lot of rooms for rent in other people’s apartments and they are much more affordable. $800 a month will get you a 10’x 10’ room on the east side and for $1,200 a month you can also find a place that offers laundry privileges. You might be sharing a brownstone with several other working people or it could just be one other person in a two bedroom apartment.  Most of the locations I have looked at are just a short walk to the subway which is the most reasonable transportation I have found although as I said, travel on the subway can be time consuming if you have to change trains very often. Yes, Manhattan is an expensive place to hang your hat.

In Washington, D.C. you can rent a one bedroom luxury apartment just one block from the White House with views of the Washington Monument for $2,100 a month. In Santa Monica, California $1,500 a month gets you a unit just a block from the ocean right where Whitey Bulger was living when he was captured. Chicago’s Chestnut Tower offers studio apartments in a high rise with doormen and a pool for $1,500 a month and in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which is one of the most affordable places to rent, a one bedroom unit in a complex with a pool goes for $400 a month. I’m going to keep on looking for a place that’s available for those Tulsa prices until I get ready to leave but I’m not holding my breath.

With my recent visits to New York I’ve been asked several times about the crime rate and I’m happy to report that criminal activity has been steadily decreasing since 1994. Many people credit this decrease to the leadership of newly appointed NYC Police Commissioner Bill Bratton who is actually returning to the post he held in 1994 under former Mayor  Rudy Giuliani. Bratton is a top cop who has spent his career in law enforcement and has led several major departments including service as Superindent and Chief of Police in his home town of Boston where in 1993 he became the Police Commissioner. Bratton took over as Chief of Police in Los Angeles in 2002 and then just last month he was recruited for his current position by newly elected Mayor Bill DeBlasio. If you are a Tom Selleck fan, you probably know that Selleck plays a NYC Police Commissioner on the TV series Blue Bloods. As the top cop in a city with over 8 million residents which is also considered a target for overseas terrorists, Bill’s job ain’t for sissies.

Bratton’s accomplishments go beyond leading the nation’s sixth largest police force. In 1995 he established the Comp Stat real time police intelligence computer system which tracks crimes and is still in use today. This system is credited with helping to reduce the crime rate in New York City as well as other places. Bratton’s experiences also served as the inspiration for a television series called The District.

Vice Chairman of the Homeland Security Advisory Council; Chief Executive Officer ofthe Bratton Group a security consulting firm with clients both in the U.S. and overseas; best selling author of “Turnaround”, the true story of how America’s top cop  reversed the crime epidemic and now once again Police Commissioner in the town I’m headed for. Well when people ask “do you feel safe in New York City?” You bet I do!

Till next week I’ll see ya down the road….

 

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