NYC apartments

one reason for no balconies i would guess is safety..

my guess is a fall from any floor above the third could be fatal

 

Why would that only be a problem in NYC, though?

LOLs

 

Yeah, that doesn't make a lick of sense. How is it safe for everyone else in the world, but not for New Yorkers?

 

one word answer

LAWYERS!!

 

Safety isn't a concern in other places:

 

A creature which exists everywhere there are apartments with balconies!

 

A lot of those low income tennants are stupid, and might have children, and the children might fall out off the edge of the balcony and then the building owner would get sued.
Plus domestic violence is more common with low income tennants. If you have a balcony, more likely some woman is going to get pushed off.

Also there would be juvenile delinquent children who would throw stuff off the balcony, playing a game to see if they could hit someone unsuspecting walking down below.

In addition to that, these apartments are already shoebox sized. Designing a balcony into the plan would further reduce available floor space inside.

With that high level of density and tall buildings right next to each other, they might also have wanted to prevent people from having barbecue grills, with all the smoke and, ironically, possible fire danger.

 

I don't know how to say this any other way, but WTF?

Low income tenants live in high rise towers with balconies all over the world. They're not throwing themselves or their babies off the edge - nor pushing each other off, nor letting their toddlers climb over the railings, nor tossing projectiles at pedestians on the streets.

This is the weirdest 'reason' yet - and only makes sense if you're suggesting people in New York specifically, are complete animals.

 

Please use some common sense. "Public housing", in an area where normal market rents even for a tiny shoebox apartment are well over $2000 a month, and the tennants are poor people.
What do you think?

 

The balconies are EXTERNAL to the residence. They're not taking any floorspace.

Yeah, that just doesn't happen though. Balconied towers exist right on top of each other in many cities, and there isn't a BBQ'ing bonanza happening on every balcony every weekend. People do cook on their balconies, but it's generally a much more modest affair compared to what you might have in a backyard.

 

It still adds additional weight to the building, which ultimately gets factored into building materials and how thick the supports have to be.
And I think these buildings can also be close together.

There are many differences between wealthy middle class tennants and low income tennants.

Not to mention the apartments in this case are smaller and thus higher density. The smoke odors from the grill might be too close to other apartment units, whereas larger apartments have some more space between them.

 

of course there are lawyers everywhere..

but could a lawyer win a lawsuit against china or russia or most other countries??

no doubt the ambulance chasers in New York are at this very moment searching for clients

every relative of every victim of the fire will be contacted by a lawyer

some will even be paid upfront by lawfirms to get the client

 

What difference does any of that make? If other Govts can provide balconied public housing towers on a low budget, why can't NY?

Once again, LOW income tenants (the only ones eligible for public housing) live safely in balconied apartments in cities all over the world. You would have to make some kind of case that New York's poor are somehow unique - and are about as trustworthy as three year olds hopped up on red food colouring. Are you saying that?

 

What does any of that have to do with balconies?

 

This is public housing. LOW INCOME tenants.

 

That's just not a logical argument. There are always pros and cons. Just because some other people decide to make a decision does not mean it is the obvious one to make. Even if 70% of low income apartments have balconies, what you have is still not a logical solid argument.

 

Balconies require additional design and materials. A plain wall with a window is the cheapest option. If the builder was bidding for the project, they could design without balconies to cut back on costs. When I was in New York last time 15 years ago I was visiting a friend who was paying $800 for a room in Brooklyn. She could only fit her bed in that room, a cabinet, and a TV. That apartment had no living room, just 2 bedrooms and a hallway. For that money back then in Minnesota you could rent a decent 2-bedroom apartment in a good area.
Some apartment designs are beyond ridiculous in New York and people pay insane money to live in them. So, with the cost of land and a goal to fit as many people like sardines into those high rise apartment buildings as possible, the balconies were probably pretty low on the priority list.

 

Are the 'tennants' (sic) poor? I honestly didn't know. What the hell are poor people doing living in an area of a city where a 'shoebox' apartment costs $2k/month? I swear, I will never understand the Socialist-Democrat mentality....

 

More LOW INCOME tenants in public housing:

 

Did it ever occur to you that the low income tennants in some areas may be different from others.

Don't you come from New Zealand, crank?
So you don't know.

 

You're not proving anything.

 

I'm asking WHY they're not provided. There hasn't been any logical reason suggested so far.

 

Explain to me why New Yorkers can't be trusted to behave like adults, but poor people all over the world can?

 

You are extremely naive.

In other countries (like yours) the poor are pretty much just the same as everyone else.

But you haven't grown up in a big high crime city in the US, so you wouldn't know.

 

I'm not trying to. I'm trying to get you to explain your odd belief that New Yorkers are no better than stupid animals, or small children.