Speaker: In this podcast you will hear about two major world cities and what it is like to live in them. You will also listen to some of the aspects people consider, when choosing to live in a place.
So, if you could live in any city or country in the world, where would you choose? Where would you feel the safest, do you think? Or the most relaxed? On the other hand, where would you not like to live, because you would feel most uncomfortable or even unsafe? Where would you feel the most alive? It’s not easy to think of a perfect place, is it?
If you had to move to another city or country, you would probably take into account all of the following aspects. But which ones are more important to you?
- Not having to travel too far to your place of work or study
- Being close to parks or green spaces
- Having a lively cultural life and plenty of entertainment
- Feeling safe because of a low crime rate
Perhaps good public services, such as education, leisure and sports facilities would be key aspects for you, or more simply, just a nice affordable home. There really is a lot to consider.
Now think about what you know about New York and Los Angeles. Where do you think you would rather live?
You are going to hear New Yorker Angie Pasadena who recently made a temporary move to Los Angeles.
Listen out for the following:
What was Angie’s first impression of LA?
And how about the public transport in both cities?
What does she put a lot of New York’s problems down to?
And finally, what does she appreciate most about LA?
Let’s listen.
Angie: My first reaction to LA was ‘Where does it start and where does it end?’ While New York is compact and intense, LA, by contrast, is a vast, never-ending place. Originally a series of separate villages now grown together, it seems to lack a single definite centre. After New York, it feels less like a city and more like a huge suburb.
And, just like in the suburbs, the only way to get round is by car. Saying that public transport is better in New York is incorrect: in LA, public transport simply doesn’t exist! New Yorkers take the subway everywhere – or walk (did I mention this is why, generally speaking, we are slimmer and fitter than our LA counterparts?), but in LA distances are usually too great for walking. Cycling is beginning to become popular, but there aren’t nearly as many cycle lanes as in New York. As a consequence, the whole city sits in a slow-moving traffic jam for hours every morning just to get to work.
The result of LA traffic jams is the famous LA smog: air pollution from exhaust fumes. We may not have as much sunshine, but the air in New York is far cleaner and there are more parks and green spaces (and, incidentally, a slightly lower crime rate). However, although public services have improved – you won’t see much litter in the subway these days unless it’s just after a big football game – our crowded city’s infrastructure is still pushed to the limit. Sadly, it is a statistical fact that wherever you are in New York, you’re never more than a few metres away from a rat!
The astronomical cost of housing is another example of the infrastructure problem. While Angelinos complain about the traffic, New Yorkers complain about how small their apartments are. When developers build new housing, they have to make 20% of it ‘affordable housing’ that's cheap enough for everybody, but this still isn’t enough to meet demand. Rents in LA aren’t cheap, but they are certainly less expensive than at home. And I haven’t seen any tiny studio apartment ‘walk-ups’ on the 5th floor with the shower in the kitchen like the one I lived in in my 20s. ‘Walk up’ is New-York speak for ‘the building is so old there is no elevator’.
Speaker: So, according to Angie, which city wins? Let’s hear what she says.
Angie: The ideal situation would be if I could transport my LA apartment to New York, but I know that’s cheating. In the end, if I had to choose, despite the California sunshine and my big apartment, I would still choose New York. I’m learning to love LA, but it’s just too big – and too lonely. You’re always alone here, shut up in your car driving somewhere, so most of the day, you just don’t talk to anybody. In New York, people get angry with each other but at least we connect. As the journalist friend of mine puts it, ‘New Yorkers cry and shout at each other in public, all the time, everywhere, on the subway, just walking down the street, but Angelinos cry alone in their cars’.
Speaker: Did you get the answers to the questions? Let’s go through them now.
Angie: My first impression of LA was that the city was without much shape or character, it is vast and never-ending without a definite centre.
I said that public transport simply doesn’t exist in LA and that in New York everyone goes by subway.
I attribute many of New York’s problems to the fact that the city is overcrowded.
And finally, what I appreciate most about LA is that I have more living space.
Speaker: Going back to the part of the text where Angie was talking about property size in New York. Did you hear the words for these definitions? The answers are given after the questions.
Angie: What do you call someone who buys land or buildings in order to build new buildings to make money?
What name do I use for buildings for people to live in?
What is the money you pay to live in a house or apartment called?