The Boroughs as Hamptons

‘So what are your plans this summer?” my friend asked.“We’re going to stick around the city,” I said. “Really?”“Sure, plenty of stuff to do here.”“Have you ever heard of a car?” he asked. “It’s quite an invention. You get in it and when you come out, you’re someplace else.”I got his point.Come summer, especially on weekends, about half of all New Yorkers leave the city for vacation. They may head out to the Hamptons or the Berkshires or the Catskills. Off they all migrate, to roadside motels, seasonal rentals, and second homes, for a few days, a week-long break, or even the whole of August.All, of course, except the other half: the residents who choose to stay put and summer in the city.That’s a real shame, because skipping town, while an opportunity exploited, is also an opportunity missed. Some Upper West Siders have seen Rome but never have seen Harlem, much less Queens.This is bad for business, as restaurants and other merchants lose sales. It’s also bad for the air, given all the gas consumed in driving longer distances and the pollution generated.But this flocking instinct is also an issue of morale. Because weekending in, say, Provincetown carries a certain snob appeal, those of us left behind are relegated to feeling unhip, provincial, even vaguely stigmatized.Make no mistake: The impulse to go away in hot weather, especially toward water, is human nature. The very ritual of hauling yourself off, along with the accompanying sense of movement, can feel liberating. Urbanites rightly feel a primal urge to break away from the sweltering subway stations for a change of scene, and a place that is cooler, quieter, and more rustic, just about anywhere as long as it’s elsewhere.Our family has gone on exoduses in summers past. Southampton. Martha’s Vineyard. We belonged to a beach club on Atlantic Beach, Long Island, for nine years. And we still visit Mystic, Conn., every August for a few days.But in recent summers we’ve rediscovered all the advantages right in our own backyard. We’ve sampled local pleasures we seldom find time to see between September and May. The Bronx Zoo. The Brooklyn Heights Promenade. Arthur Avenue and Astoria. Just a few weeks ago, we rode the Staten Island Ferry.Staying close to home on summer weekends, at least occasionally, comes highly recommended. Tourists cross oceans, spending fortunes, just to visit our attractions, but we’re already here. The city is vast, with 14 miles of beaches. Getting around town on a shoestring is easy. You benefit from the ultimate luxury: convenience.Besides, the city on summer weekends is special, a different city, markedly so, from its other seasons. It has fewer people around, fewer cars, and thus more room to maneuver. It has more seats available in a sidewalk café for a leisurely espresso, more air to breathe, and it’s quiet enough at night to hear the street lights change.It’s also in a more leisurely mood. You can witness the rare phenomenon of New Yorkers walking slowly. In sticking around, you feel a kinship with all the others who do as well. Suddenly, it’s a city that feels smaller, more intimate, more ours. Summer camp for adults. Camp New York City.Improvements in attitude are already underway. NYC & Company now prominently cites all five boroughs on its Web sites, touting the city to visitors and residents alike, currently via its “Summer Breaks” discounts.The Bronx is getting into the act, too, with a new ad campaign called “We’re Talking The Bronx.” Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz swears he himself summers in his home borough. But the city still needs to do more to market its virtues as a summer destination to its own constituencies. Our tourism industry still mainly targets outsiders in order to sell airline tickets and hotel rooms. Indeed, the Long Island Convention & Visitors Bureau no longer even tries to lure New Yorkers, so flush are its hotels with the likes of us, instead focusing on other nearby cities, such as Philadelphia and Baltimore.We can do a better job stimulating inter- and intra-borough tourism. For starters, let’s do some research, tracking the numbers on local visitor traffic that is now so hard to come by. Let’s also convince all five boroughs to collaborate on a campaign to celebrate the city as ours.So stay. Escape the urge to escape. Think of here as the new away. Stay, even if only on alternating weekends. Your next vacation could be only five or 10 miles away. You’ll be going green and contributing to your local economy. Stay because, if you commit to this gesture of pride and loyalty toward your hometown, you’ll truly earn your stripes as a citizen of the city.Mr. Brody, a public relations executive and essayist, lives in Forest Hills, N.Y.

The Boroughs as Hamptons

The Boroughs as Hamptons

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