New Digs

Click floor plan to enlarge

Well, we've got an address. We'll be living in hospital housing on Roosevelt Island.

Roosevelt Island is a tiny strip of land, two miles long, in the East River between Manhattan and Queens. You're unable to walk off, from what I understand. I've never been there. There's one train stop, one stop away from the Upper East Side, and a tram (think gondola) over the river into Manhattan. The bridge takes you to Queens.

From what I've read it's limited in commercial activity, but has green space, a public pool, tennis courts, and low crime. It's kinda peaceful, with a view of the fabulous Manhattan skyline. But, even with Freddie, I'm still not yet feeling the pull of the burbs. Living in NOLA, we wanted to live in NOLA. In the same vein, if we were going to move, we wanted to live in NYC. We're city folks.

I loved our Bordeaux Street home because of the diversity of our neighbors, racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically. I loved walking to the park, playgrounds, the grocery, the drug store, the ice cream parlor, restaurants. We lived in a seriously walkable neighborhood. It was a real neighborhood. We were right in the middle of things and I could go weeks without getting in my car, and the furthest either of us would typically go was to Charlie's work and that was accessible by bike.

So, needless to say we were a bit disappointed with the assignment on RI (which gets a high walkability score but I am not sure if those points in Queens really count as walkable). Yes, I know what you're thinking, we're one train stop from UES. Right, I know. Just would much prefer to walk to where I need to go rather than navigate the train with Freddie and the stroller.

But, after some careful weighing of pros and cons, I sucked it up and decided we should just accept the apartment and move forward. That moving forward thing is what really did it. Living in a temporary place, in limbo, while I tackled the apartment market in Manhattan wasn't exactly something to look forward to. It was complicated.

But I am looking forward to a large apartment with two bathrooms, elevators in the building, a gym in the building, the hospital childcare center in the building, large windows with a spectacular view, and laundry in the building. We'll be living in the same building as other families working at the hospital, so perhaps joining that community will be helpful.

With this decision I was able to arrange for cable, internet, and electricity as well as reroute our mail. Love taking care of business.

We'll be sleeping in our new home in just 18 days.