Thoughts on 2013

As 2013 comes to a close, I thought I'd join the conversation.

My neighborhood, that is the place I'm most likely to be found before and after work, stretches from Vanderbilt to Bedford, includes Prospect Park, the library, botanic garden and museum - no need to repeat Brooklyn prior to each. (Let me preempt a discussion on names by saying that I know this is either two or three neighborhoods depending on who is counting.)

I suspect in decades to come, I will look back to this place in this year with much nostalgia, because for me, right now, my neighborhood is just about right.

Here are some of the things that make it so. I can walk out my door at any time, do any of the things I like and feel safe. By contrast, the Upper West Side of my childhood or East Village of my teens was filled with perceived and actual danger that I was taught to avoid at the price of many places being off-limits at times and some all the time.

My avatar (in his persona as a mutt) and I walk every morning at the same time and have lots of neighbors who, as a consequence, I've chatted with for years without ever knowing their names. I also have friends - some of whom I met through this very board. There are plenty if people I just nod to. The ability to have multiple types of interactions with people who only have location in common is almost the perfect definition of a neighborhood's community.

I can be seen by neighbors without having brushed my hair - try doing that in SoHo or Park Avenue.

The neighborhood is economically diverse. I've looked up the stats (I'm an occasional researcher for Whynot). The stores and eateries support that diversity. OK we aren't Roosevelt Avenue, but then again the U.N. Is Roosevelt Avenue. I can get a slice or patties or sit down to farm-to-table delights. I can buy soap and clothing locally. There is a bar for my every mood - Sepia for the winter, Washington Commons for the yard, Tooker Alley when I want a drink with more ingredients than a stir fry.

I can do all this without feeling that there is no room for people who prefer other roti shops. Who get their hair cut at other salons. There is room for us all.

But I know this all will change. Chun Cha Fu, where I learned to use chop sticks does not exist, replaced decades ago by Carmine's. None of my childhood friends live in our old neighborhood - all but one of us priced out.

Crime has ebbed citywide but my guess is that it will flow again; not in 2014, but at some point. Whynot comes home with daily reports (I know you know) on changes large and small, great and horrible. I am thrilled to go to the Classon but sad that Awedacity closed and that Gran Castillo will shut - despite the fact that I do not eat there.

But while we are still in this year, it is apparent that 2013 was great for me in my neighborhood. I hope it was great for you in your neighborhood too.