I’ve been to a couple of cities in my (almost) quarter-century on this Earth – from terrorist-prone London to earthquake-ridden San Francisco.  I’ve even lived in an international city for nearly 20% of my life.  So after all this urban experience and observation, I’ve come to a conclusion: New York City is one of the least safe cities in America.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m living in New York now in a time when crime has never been lower; A time when wealth generation has created favourable living conditions; A time where a renewed sense of optimism post-9/11 makes New Yorkers a nicer bunch of people.  However, what I’ve seen today is proof that New York is always one step away from annihilation.

The problem is that the city, unlike most of the world’s other major cities, is completely outdated.  New York as we know it was really founded early in the 1900s.  Regretfully, not much has happened in the way of modernisation – save for a few gentrified buildings here and there.  However, its infrastructure is vastly outdated and suffers from the everlasting vagaries of taxpaying naysayers failing to allow for capital improvement projects.

Case in point: the NYC subway.

Today was an exercise for me in patience and determination, as my usual 40 minute commute to work turned into 2 1/2 hours.  I could get into the ins and outs of the trip, but all that is relevant to my argument lies in the suspension of all Manhattan-bound service from 8am to 5pm.  The cause of the suspension?  Rain.  That’s right, San Francisco has earthquakes, New York has rain. And San Francisco can actually recover well for itself.

I understand that NYC’s subway was built nearly 100 years ago however, if it cannot function when the rain comes, it’s pointless.  Queens has a population of approximately 2.2 million, not all of who are trying to get to Manhattan at once.  But if they were, subway suspension would put them all out from the downtown.  If something worse happened to the subway lines, there would be no reconciliation of Queens and Manhattan.  Instead, only utter chaos would ensue.

But more than that, there doesn’t seem to be much of a contingency plan for if something as small as rain makes the plans go haywire.  Citizens aren’t told of the prevailing problems, nor the solutions, nor the alternatives.  Instead, there is a sense of panic and confusion – probably no different from that shortly after 9/11.

In fact, a second event occurred today that instilled nearly as much fear of a terrorist attack.  A steam pipe blew up on 41st St., between 3rd and Lexington Aves.  The pipe was laid out in 1924 – 83 years old.  The impact on the street left a giant crater and rumblings underground.  And even Mayor Bloomberg said it’s “a failure of our infrastructure.”  If a blast in central New York makes the top headlines of the BBC website, it means business.  Now, it remains to be seen what the air quality is like following the disaster.

So, is there any reason for me to leave New York once I’m done with my degree?  Probably.  But risks are managed everywhere and even urban planning and development tries to assess and fix problems.  New York’s problem is that it doesn’t put enough money into its problems, nor does it fix them fast enough.  If London can warn riders about services failures and alternative courses of action, why can’t New York do as such when it rains in the subway (or at least rebuild the subway above the water tables)?

It should.  But until it does, New York will just remain an unsafe city.