The Gift of the City

 

Maya gave his chubby little hand a squeeze before unstrapping her one-year-old son and gently placing his feet on the floor of the Blue Whale Room. The pair had visited the National History Museum many times before, but he normally stayed in the stroller. Just recently, however, he had been learning to pull himself up on the leather couch in their Upper Westside apartment, sliding his teetering body along the edge, and then making his way around their furniture. She knew his first steps were close and smiled to herself as she watched him attempt to balance his tiny frame. Maya savored the moment with her newly adopted Chilean son, knowing it wouldn’t be long before she would be chasing him down the city sidewalks. 

She couldn’t wait for him to experience the cadence of thousands of people of all ages moving and breathing and plodding their way across town.

“I have always loved to walk...walking helps you experience the rhythm,” says Maya Banas, a long time resident of New York City and the Upstate area.

Banas recalls walking to Rockefeller Center to watch the ice skaters, and then down Fifth Avenue to see the motorized displays during the holidays when she was a child. Later on, Maya and her husband marched in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade as balloon handlers, a rite of passage for many who have lived in the city. 

“We loved having access to all the cultural goodies the city offered, and all within walking distance.” 

 At the time, Banas and her husband were working in television and film production. They had also adopted three children of various nationalities.

“I saw the city become safer. I no longer had to walk around certain blocks. I could take the most direct route home without worries. [ Even on Saturdays], the best way to spend the day was by walking. When the weather was cold, we would go to the theater. In the warmer weather, we would walk through Central Park to the Metropolitan Museum, or a subway trip to the Village and then walking to Soho or Chinatown.” 

During the brief interview, Banas is an active listener, steady and thoughtful with her words as she reflects on a portfolio of memories. While she admittedly feels the city has been a special part of her life since birth, she has also seen it change in ways that have presented obstacles for those living and working in its midst. 

“Little by little as the city became less crime-ridden and a more desirable place to live, the rents went up...the individually owned stores like shoe repair places and tailor shops started disappearing. Then it was the bakeries and the butcher shops. They were no longer seen as having value. Soon Bed, Bath, and Beyond moved in along with the other mall stores, and the entire character of the Upper West Side changed.”

In other words, Banas was living the real-life version of You’ve Got Mail. 

“People in the arts could no longer find inexpensive places to live. It was once a thriving area of creatives and immigrants of all ages.” 

These changes affected Banas and her husband directly, and they eventually moved out of  the city to find a little more space and convenience in the suburbs. Although her family is no longer walking the same streets, she is grateful for what the city gave her.