New york city sucks

New York City Sucks, But You’ll Still Wanna Come Here: An English Reading, Vocabulary and Idiom-Building (Survival) Guide For Students Who Want To Know The TRUTH About The Big Apple Intro by Suzy 1) The English schools suck but you can stay in the USA with an F1 visa. 2) An important tomb at an urban crossroads 3) Bed Bugs 4) They are not magicians, they are Jewish? 5) Please don’t give money to beggars 6) Ticket Blitz 7) Why the hell is Bloomberg the Mayor? 8) Yellow Fever 9) I almost killed my language exchange partner 10) Historic Stuff - NYC's rise to power 11) An Army of Blond Lesbians? Developing my gaydar. 12) Immigration policy, get your victim visa! 13) See New York and die 14) Subway stories 15) 9/11/01: from tragedy to disillusion 16) Who is on the money? 17) My volunteer activity at a homeless shelter 18) I went to a sex club 19) From beatnik to hippy to punk to hipster? Welcome to Williamsburg 20) Police scandals: Diallo, Luima, Bell 21) Diversity my ass: Crown Heights, Brooklyn 22) Finding a place 23) A few historical New Yorkers you should know 24) I bought a gun to get my photo ID card How to use this book: This book is written completely in English. Once you learn English grammar, the only way to really master English is to leave your native language for periods of time and jump completely into English. This book helps you do that in a fun, supportive and interesting way. By the way, Suzy is my “alter-ego” (my “other self”). I’m Daniel Gauss, a guy who came to New York City to study at Teachers College Columbia University and who has taught and tutored here. So Suzy’s stories are partly based on my experiences and partly on experiences my students have told me. 1. There are 23 reading passages. First, read through a passage and try to understand as much as you can. 2. Then, go to the section where some selected words are defined. Some definitions are funny and some teach you about U.S. or New York City culture/history. Look through these words and definitions and try to understand and perhaps memorize the words you do not know. Try to put the new words on index cards with their definitions so you can review them. This really helps! 3. After you have looked through the definitions and have understood or memorized the new words, try to read the passage again. The second time you will understand the passage better and will remember more new words. 4. Then, try to do the fill-in-the-blank exercises after each passage. These are fun. These will help you really learn new vocabulary words. Your "passive" vocabulary (words you can understand when you hear or see them) often becomes your "active" vocabulary (words you can use to express yourself). 5. Finally, look at the grammar review section. This section deals with common grammar mistakes that almost all new English students make. It will be very helpful. Please enjoy this book or I will be sad. Introduction from Suzy You can learn the good stuff about New York City elsewhere. I want to tell you the nasty, rotten stuff. Maybe it's something about my personality. Maybe I’m a cynic. Or maybe I'm a do-gooder and I don't want you to be fooled about what exists over here before you come here. In fact, if you read this book, you’ll get a sense of what a New Yorker really is or can be, and if you actually come here, after reading this book, you will feel more like a New Yorker than a clueless bug-eyed tourist. You will come here with open eyes, but not bug-eyes. What makes a real New Yorker? I think knowledge and experience make a real New Yorker. You are a real New Yorker when you really begin to understand this place (the good stuff and the bad stuff) and start experiencing things you can’t experience in any other city (the good stuff and the bad stuff). Lots of people seem to be proud to have been born in New York City, but they are not necessarily real New Yorkers. Real New Yorkers often come from other places. Immigrants used to come to America expecting to make money very quickly or to get well-paying jobs and they were often treated like crap or garbage by the European folks who got here first. And, instead of writing back home and saying, "Don’t make the same mistake I made! They treat immigrants like crap here!" people were too embarrassed and would write back home and say, "Wow! What a great country! There is money to be made all over the place! I am so glad I came here!" Basically, people would just lie in order to cover up the fact that they had made a bad decision. That meant that more people would come over and have bad experiences and then write nice things about their experiences. A whole cycle of this nonsense occurred. Well, I won’t do that. I have integrity. There are rotten things about New York City which you should know about. REALLY rotten things. There are some nasty, ugly, mean-spirited people here. There are people who live for nothing but money and their own personal comfort here. Selfishness abounds. There is wide-spread, incredible poverty. The Census Bureau estimates that 20% of New Yorkers live in poverty. New York also has the widest income gap in the country. The top 20% of New Yorkers make 40 times the amount of money as the bottom 20%. There are also 43,000 homeless people who are living in New York City shelters. There are another 2,000 living on the streets. Almost every day someone begs me for money as I walk to work. People even beg for money on the subway. Beggars are everywhere in Manhattan. Part of the problem is rent. About 30% of New Yorkers pay over 50% of their salaries (the money they make) for rent. For some poorer New Yorkers, this means that after they pay for rent, their phone bill, their transportation costs etc., they only have about $5 per day left for food. About 1.8 million people in New York City receive “food stamps” (this means they receive money from the government to receive free food from supermarkets). There are about 8.2 million New Yorkers, so almost 22% of New Yorkers are getting free food. The average amount a person receives, however, is only about $150 per month – which isn’t much - but it probably keeps some people from starving to death. Lots of Manhattan churches hand out free food as well and have soup kitchens, so very hungry people often go there. New York City currently has a billionaire mayor who has, basically, ignored the poor and homeless, but who thinks he has done a wonderful job. His agenda seems to have been to make life impossible for the poor so that they would have to move out of the city. There are, however, some people who are too poor to even move out. There are neighborhoods where you'd be crazy to go. Some inner city young people carry concealed guns and sometimes people get shot by stray bullets. There is massive corruption in the state government, a system of transportation that would be an embarrassment in a third world country and a police department that seems to have one scandal after another. It’s true that New York City is the most diverse city in the world (there are people from over 250 countries here), but the different ethnicities and races seem to shun each other here. So there’s a lot to tell you about, my friend. Let me start by complaining about the language schools here. I'll then complain about everything I can think of complaining about. I'll also throw in some good stuff about New York City, and some suggestions as to how you can survive here. But this ESL book is primarily meant to give you some extra words (vocabulary development helps fluency) and to entertain you with the cold, hard truth about the "greatest" city in the world. More than anything, I want you to be ready when you get here. I want you to be empowered here because this place can be rough. If you know a few things ahead of time that other people aren't telling you, you'll be safer and have a better experience here. Definitions of highlighted words: stuff – this is a much used word in the American vocabulary. It’s singular but means a collection of things. For instance, if you want to go shopping you might say you need to buy “a bunch of stuff.” "A bunch" is a collection of something, like a bunch of bananas. The closest synonym to stuff would be “things.” You can learn the good things about New York City elsewhere. I don’t need any more stuff in my living room. I like learning stuff about nature. Give me more of that stuff on that plate – it’s tasty! Be careful, though. Many foreign students sometimes pluralize this word, but there is no such word as "stuffs": only stuff. elsewhere – another source, another place, somewhere else. nasty, rotten – a nasty attitude is a mean, not nice, aggressive and negative attitude. If you ask a sales clerk a question and she says, “Don’t bother me.” that’s a nasty attitude. "To bother" a person means to annoy or irritate the person. Rotten means something bad. If you leave an apple lying around for several days it will become rotten. Any food left lying around too long will become rotten. You will probably feel disgusted looking at a rotten piece of fruit. Sometimes you ask a person how he/she feels and the person will say, “I feel rotten.” That means they are not feeling good at all. If somebody acts in a rotten way, you will feel disgusted by them. By the way, attitude is a good vocabulary word. Many foreign students mistakenly use the word "mind.” They might say, "I don't like the American mind about guns." What they mean is, "I don't like the American attitude about guns." If a person is kind of nasty, we can also say that he or she has a "bad attitude.” a personality - a person's personality is made up of all of the psychological characteristics of a person. Sometimes there are certain characteristics that stand out more than others so a person might be described as having a pleasant personality, or a negative, bad or nasty personality. An American might say, "He has such a bad personality. He's always critical and negative." I have a sweet personality. Really! Well, I wish I did. I think I used to have a sweet personality before I came here. a cynic – someone who tends to always see the negative side of things. If you are like this you are a cynical person or a cynic. The word cynic comes from an ancient Greek word for a group of philosophers who tried to remove themselves from Greek society in order to criticize it. They kind of lived like homeless people or Buddhist monks. These philosophers never seemed to see anything positive about their society. They always focused on the negative. a do-gooder – a do-gooder is someone who does good things for others. The high-level version of this word is “altruist.” This word comes from the Latin word “alter” for “other”. If you are an altruist you care about other people more than you care about yourself. “Ego” means “I” in Latin. An egoist is someone who cares about himself or herself more than others. If you are an egoist you can also be called “egocentric.” You can also be called self-centered or selfish. to be fooled – to be deceived, to be tricked, to expect one thing and then to be surprised with something else (usually negative). A fool is basically a clown – someone that others laugh at. over here – many foreign students say “in here.” No, you are now “over here.” I used to live in Moscow but I have been over here for 5 years now. Over here. Please practice this because it drives me crazy when people say, “I’ve been in here for 5 years.” Over here. Please! Please? Pretty please? clueless – a clue is what a detective or investigator looks for to solve a crime. A clue is a hint or some type of evidence that points to something else. A lot of Americans use the term “clueless” for people who are kind of ignorant or who just don’t know what they should know. You can also be clueless if you simply don’t know something about a subject. I had never been to an Ethiopean restaurant, so I was clueless about how to eat the food without any utensils (in Ethiopean restaurants you have to eat the food with your fingers, using thin slices of bread to scoop up (pick up) the beef or chicken – a utensil is a knife, fork or spoon). to be bug-eyed – bugs, or insects, often have huge eyes. When I say a “bug-eyed” tourist I mean a tourist who is overly impressed by New York City’s surface or impressions…as if the tourist is walking around with huge eyes just looking at tourist attractions and other stuff he/she is supposed to or expected to look at, without really having experiences or understanding things. to treat s/o like crap – “to treat someone like” means to act toward them in a certain way. I have been treated well by Americans since I came over here. If someone treats another person like crap, he treats that person badly. “Crap” means poop. Poop. The stuff that comes out of your butt when you sit on the toilet. Ok? Poop, crap. Actually, crap is the more polite word for “shit.” Your butt is what you sit on. The polite term for “ass” is “butt.” Be careful because “to treat” can also mean to pay for someone. i.e. Let me treat you to dinner tonight. If you have been treated badly by someone, you might also say “I was treated like garbage by him!” folks – is a term that lots of people are using for “people” these days. Some folks think that this economic crisis was caused by irresponsible bankers. There are some folks who like to travel, but I enjoy reading and staying in New York City. I disagree with the folks who think we need to build more prisons and I agree with the folks who suggest we should economically develop our cities to prevent crime. to make a mistake – please be aware that the verb you use with “mistake” is “to make.” i.e. I made a mistake when I got off the subway in Brooklyn instead of Flushing. to lie to cover up s/t – to say something not true to try to hide something. Politicians usually try to cover up various wrong things that they have done. In American history President Nixon tried to cover up the Watergate scandal, in which he illegally and secretly recorded conversations of his political enemies in the Watergate Hotel. President Reagan tried to cover up the Iran-Contra scandal, in which he illegally sold weapons to Iran through a group in South America called The Contras. "in which" is used a lot in English: I was involved in an activity in which I made a lot of money. Speaking of scandals, Bill Clinton tried to cover up the fact that he had sex with Monica Lewinsky. "the fact that" is used a lot in English. I don't like the fact that he has a nasty temper (he becomes angry easily). People were upset by the fact that the Congress raised taxes again. "the fact that" serves the function of an object which is explained afterwards in the sentence. a cycle – a complete process that then begins again. We use “a vicious cycle” to mean negative actions that continue each other. For instance, revenge leads to a vicious cycle. Hatred leads to a vicious cycle of hatred in that person A hates B and B returns the hatred so that A then hates B even more and B then hates A more etc. "In that" is also used alot - it kind of means: "because" or "for the reason that." There is also something called a “benevolent cycle” or a good cycle. If a company pays its workers well then the workers work harder and the company makes more money and can pay the workers more and they work even harder; this is a benevolent cycle. integrity – a sense of extreme honesty. Integrity is a non-countable noun. It is hard to find a politician with integrity these days in New York; they are all corrupt and dishonest. mean-spirited – having a mean or nasty spirit or attitude. Attitude is a good vocabulary word to know – it can be used a lot. If someone is mean-spirited they do not act in a kindly way. It is as if they are motivated by an evil or mean spirit (ghost or demon). to abound – if something abounds it is all over the place. It spreads rapidly. This word isn’t used much; don’t worry about it. Racism abounded in the South in the past, but now things are better there. wide-spread – all over the place. It has spread to many parts of a place. The swine flu is not as wide- spread as people thought it might be. AIDS has become wide-spread in parts of Africa. living in poverty – being very, very poor. In America you are considered to be living below the poverty line if you make less than about $12,000 per year. If you are in a family of 4 and all the people in your family make under about $24,000 per year, all of you are living in poverty. The Census Bureau – This is a government agency whose job is to collect (compile) statistics, primarily about the population of the USA. The population of the USA is taken every 10 years (1980, 1990, 2000, 2010 etc.). wide, wider, widest – the opposite of wide is narrow. If something is “the widest” it is the largest. an income gap – a gap is a space between something. An income gap would be the difference between rich and poor people. Income is the money you make. The average salary of people in the top 20% in NY City is about $400,000. The average salary for the bottom 20% of New Yorkers is about $10,000. I think there’s something wrong about this. a shelter – a building owned by the city where homeless people can go to get some food and to get some sleep. Many homeless people say the shelter system in New York City is dirty and dangerous. to beg – to ask for something as a type of gift or act of kindness or charity. food stamps – Now a days a person gets a card from the government that looks like a debit card. When the person buys food, he/she runs the debit card through a machine at the supermarket counter and money is deducted from the card. In the old days people were literally given “stamps” worth a certain amount of money. Yes, like the stamps you put on letters. So even though people use electronic cards, the cards are still called food stamps. to starve – to go without food for too long. Sometimes “starving” is used in a humorous way. Yes! Let’s go to dinner! I’m starving! a soup kitchen – this is a place, usually at a church or synagogue (where Jewish people worship), where they cook free meals for homeless and/or hungry people. I don’t know why these places are called “soup kitchens” because they serve much more than soup. I have done volunteer work at a church called Holy Apostles – in Manhattan – where they serve thousands of people a year. It’s heart- breaking to see all the sad, hungry people. People often don’t talk to each other, they just look down at their food, eat and leave. I think they are often deeply embarrassed (at least that is what I have seen). a billionaire mayor - a billionaire has 1 billion dollars or more. 1 billion is this: 1,000,000,000. A mayor is the leader of a city. The current Mayor of New York is the wealthiest person in the city with over 15 billion dollars. It is no coincidence (no accident) that the wealthiest person is mayor here. to ignore - to not pay attention to, to overlook, to disregard. an agenda – a plan, a goal. You'd be crazy to go there - to be crazy means to be mentally ill, or insane. To be crazy to go someplace means that a normal, rational (logical) person would not go there because if he/she were to go to that place, he/she would not be safe. inner city – I don’t know who created this term, but inner city usually means “bad neighborhood” or “bad area.” An inner city young person lives in a bad, dangerous place. Lots of poor, young New Yorkers live in dangerous places and they become changed for the worse by their experiences there. concealed – hidden. In America everyone who does not have a serious criminal record and who is over a certain age may buy a gun. It is illegal in most states, however, to carry a concealed gun. Believe it or not, there are some places in America where you can carry a concealed gun (Texas, for instance). stray – something is stray when it goes someplace it wasn’t supposed to go. A stray bullet is a bullet that goes in a wrong direction or someplace the shooter of the gun didn’t want it to go. Recently, a 90 year old woman was sitting in her apartment in the Bronx and a stray bullet from a gun went through her window and killed her. Members of teenage street gangs had been shooting at each other. A stray dog is a dog that is lost or no longer has a home. There used to be a rock and roll group in the USA called The Stray Cats (the lost cats). massive corruption – massive means a huge amount. Corruption is dishonesty and wrong- doing. Political corruption means secret or hidden or covered-up wrong-doing on the part of politicians. Corruption literally means “rottenness.” a third-world country - During the Cold War period of history (1945 - 1989), a third-world country was any country that wasn't an ally (friend) of the United States or Russia. So small, developing countries were called third-world countries, and they are called this even to this day. a scandal – when it becomes public knowledge that someone famous or in power or in a situation of responsibility has been doing something embarrassing or wrong. A scandal is when knowledge of wrong- doing goes public. diverse - not the same, different. The opposite word would be "homogeneous." That is pronounced "ho MAGE in us" not "ho mo JEAN ee us." A homogeneous city would be a city that has, basically, the same race or ethnicity of people - basically everyone looks similar in a homogeneous city. ethnicities – an ethnic group is not a racial group. If you were born in Korea, your race is Asian but your ethnicity is Korean. America is made up of many different ethnic groups: German, Irish, Polish, Italian, Jewish, Chinese, Latino etc. The original European folks who came here were white, English (also called Anglo Saxon) and Protestant (a different Christian grouping from Catholic). So if a person in America is a WASP, he/she comes from this original type of immigrant to America: White Anglo Saxon Protestant. Believe it or not, WASPs do not make up the largest ethnic group in America. Currently German-Americans are the largest grouping (17%), followed by Latinos. The number of Latinos in America is increasing rapidly, however, and so this group will soon become the most populous. However, lots of Asians have been coming over as immigrants and this group represents the most highly educated group of immigrants to ever come to America. to shun – to avoid, to stay away from. to throw in – to include. to be or feel empowered – to feel as if you have the capacity or the power to be able to do something. rough – the opposite of smooth. In this case rough means difficult. Grammar Stuff – Common Mistakes – “If” statements Here’s where I’m going to deal with common mistakes foreign students make. For instance, if you want to speak English, you are going to have to use “if” statements a lot. Take a look at that last sentence. That’s a simple conditional statement. You have the present tense in the first part and the future in the second part. But, please notice, instead of “…you will have to use…” I wrote “you are going to have to use…” Americans don’t use the word “will” a lot. They use “going to” more often. However, “will” is still used a lot in the conditional so feel free to use it that way if you want to. As you get more familiar with English and get some experience with it, you can begin using “going to” more often. Let’s take a quick look at the three big ways that the conditional is used. 90% of the time you’ll use one of these three sentence structures. Learn this thoroughly please! It is so useful. The simple conditional. Present tense and future tense. I would guess that 75% of the time you use the conditional, you can use the simple conditional. If you drink too much soda you are going to get fat. Or: If you drink too much soda you will get fat. “Drink” is in the present tense and “going to get fat” or “will get fat” is in the future tense. If we drive to Jersey we are going to pick up Bob (or: we will pick up Bob). If Joe eats much more he is going to get sick (or: will get sick). The unreal conditional. Past tense and would. If Bob ate pork, he would get sick. If I wrote this down, it wouldn't get lost. But, there is also a way to use the unreal conditional with the verb "were." If Bob were to eat pork he would get sick. If I were to write this down it wouldn't get lost. So it would involve: were + to + a verb. Why "were"? In English we still have the "subjunctive" rule in regard to unreal situations using the word "if." This rule states that if you use "if" in the unreal conditional, you should use "were" instead of "was." Most Americans don’t even know this. Only 25% of Americans go to college. This is supposed to help people realize that the situation is unreal. You will often, however, hear many Americans say, "If I was in his place I would not go home." But it's better to follow the subjunctive rule and use "were" instead of “was”: If I were in his place I would not go home. If I were not tired I would walk over to your house. If he were not to drive, he would have to walk. The subjunctive rule seems to be dying in the English language. Because too many Americans are too uneducated to understand it? I didn’t say that! Who said that?! All of this is about a hypothetical or theoretical or non-real situation – something that hasn’t happened but someone is thinking of doing it and thinking of the consequences of doing it. This is a type of situation which might or might not happen. "If I drank soda, I would get fat." More instances of the other way to convey the unreal conditional: If I were to drink soda I would get fat. If I were to drive to Jersey I would pick up Bob. If Joe were to eat pork he would get sick. Do you want the truth? Educated Americans seem to use “were to” and uneducated Americans seem to use the past tense. That’s how it seems to me. Actually, here's the real truth: most Americans don't even know how to use conditionals correctly. Even journalists mess up the conditional in their newspapers. One important rule of thumb (brief rule): never follow an "if" immediately with a "will" or "would". You will never say: "If I would…" or “If I will…” Never in a million years. Never in a zillion years. This is an impossible structure, but Americans use it anyway. Please don't follow their example. Past unreal (or whatever the hell they call it). Basically, if you have to use “if” and it refers to something in the past , you use this weird structure. If I had driven into Jersey I would have picked up Bob. So this type of “if” statement is about a hypothetical situation that might have happened in the past. If Bob had eaten the old stale food he would have gotten sick. If I had drunk a lot of soda I would have become fat. So it is: had + p.p.  would have + p.p. It’s so easy. Oh my God! I can’t believe it when foreign students make mistakes with “if” statements! If you use “if,” 90% of the time you are only going to have THREE sentence structure choices. So, people, PLEASE, pretty please! Please stop for just a second and determine which of the three structures you will need to use when you use “if.” These “if” statements are so easy but so many foreign students make mistakes when they use if! Every time you are about to use "if" please catch yourself and think, just briefly: Present + will? Past + would? Had + p.p. + would have + p.p? Oh! I almost forgot. You don’t always have to use “will” or “going to” or "would” in the second part of an “if” statement. You can use other “modals” like “can” or “should” or “might”. i.e. If you go to Astoria you can buy some good Greek groceries. If I had known about the sale, I might have bought some clothes from there. But the structure is the same. Please nail down these conditionals; they are essential. "To nail down" means to really master or understand something. You hit a nail with a [...]... restaurant owners in New York City pay The Governor runs the state - he's in charge of the state of New York So the Governor is like the president of a state There are 50 states in the USA and so there are 50 governors George Bush used to be the Governor of Texas New York City is run by the Mayor New York City is just a very small part of New York State Most people who come to New York City from other countries... essential verb in New York City Bush sucked Taxes suck My new boyfriend sucks because he is so cheap The subway system in New York City sucks If something sucks, it's bad Really bad This used to be a “dirty” word or a vulgar word a few years ago, but now it is used widely, even in some newspapers Many students make mistakes using it, however You cannot say: It is sucks You can say: It sucks It sucked... in New York history involved Governor Eliot Spitzer (a governor is the leader of the State of New York the Mayor is the leader of the City of New York) Spitzer was visiting various prostitutes during the period of time he was Governor, and he was forced to resign when this was discovered by the FBI (The FBI is the police department of the United States of America – it’s much more powerful than city. .. fact that New Yorkers walking down the street just traffic lights and walk signals Basically, if a car is not coming, a New Yorker will cross the street regardless of the traffic sign or walk signal Very few people would argue that Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia was a man of immense _ He fought against corruption in New York City government and ended many organized crime groups in the city Few... going to speak with Koreans all the time and potentially get fat, I’d do it in New York City And, any way, my Oklahoma language school sucked How was I supposed to know, however, that most, if not all, language schools seem to suck?!!! Generally, based on what I’ve seen and heard, the English language schools in New York City suck They really suck They suck a lot Maybe I’m wrong and I just haven’t heard... warn you about stuff here I’ll try to tell you a bit about New York City since you, like everyone else, probably want to come here So by the time you get here to experience your own lousy ESL school, you’ll know a lot and you’ll see how right I was! Suzy's Advice: Unfortunately, I don’t have much more advice There used to be a place in New York City called The International Center All of the teachers... department stores, in New York City, have such nice In Paris and some other European cities the clerks do not treat the buyers with much respect or kindness, but in New York the clerks will smile and chat and talk to you about your purchase A person coming to America who wants to avoid getting fat needs to _ all the tasty bagels and fried foods which are everywhere in this city Visitors from... secretly, as if passed under a table Believe it or not, the Mayor’s Office of New York City seems to condone (approve of) under-the-table jobs because people who work illegally seem to help certain businesses make more money These people do not, however, pay income taxes, so, basically, it seems that the Mayor’s Office of New York City doesn’t think everyone needs to pay income taxes Welcome to America!... me that unless you make about $40,000 a year in New York City, your life will be kind of _ here I am not sure, though I think how easy or difficult your life here is, will depend on how much you have to pay for rent When the young man asked me for spare (extra) change (coins) because he was homeless, I strongly encouraged him to enter a New York City _ Even though I have heard they might... out of place and out of time Indeed, Trinity was built before Wall Street became the banking capitol of the world Trinity represents a pre-venture capital (before venture capital) New York City Trinity represents New York City before it got crazy rich I can still remember the first time I came across the cemetery next to the church It was unbelievable to me that a cemetery with graves from the 1600s . is an essential verb in New York City. Bush sucked. Taxes suck. My new boyfriend sucks because he is so cheap. The subway system in New York City sucks. If something sucks, it's bad. Really. in any other city (the good stuff and the bad stuff). Lots of people seem to be proud to have been born in New York City, but they are not necessarily real New Yorkers. Real New Yorkers often. biggest ____________ in New York history involved Governor Eliot Spitzer (a governor is the leader of the State of New York the Mayor is the leader of the City of New York) . Spitzer was visiting