Has Buenos Aires declined since 2019?

[on the brink]

Uruguay has 3 times the minimu wage of Argentina and prices while higher are not three times more . In Argentina today the amount of people falling into abject poverty is most distressing for those with social conscience.

Where do you get your misinformation?

I've owned a small ranch in Uruguay for the past eighteen years, pay wages and utilities, car insurance and gas bills, and know what it's like over there. Wages are perhaps 30% higher in dollar terms, and prices are three times higher. As an example, my caretaker's UTE bill is US$ 150 per month - I know, because I pay it. That is without heating or air conditioning, rare luxuries in Uruguay.

Cars and gasoline are so expensive that few can afford them. Whole families pile up on one motorcycle - father, mother and two kids.

Please take the time to cross the river and speak to a few people on the other side. The experience should be enlightening.

 

[Che1990]

On the other hand though, if you visit Mendoza, it's amazing how that place has transformed for the better over the past few years. I lived there in 2009/10 and it was incredibly run down back then. I then came back to live in Argentina in 2017, and the city had improved a bit, but not much. Since the pandemic, however, it's looking great. You go there now, and everything's new, clean streets, modern paving, building work gentrification everywhere (but in a good, and much needed, way). I think that city benefited massively from the post-pandemic tourist boom.

 

[JeffR]

Not just BA or Argentina though is it.

I've noticed the same phenomenon with places I traveled to both pre and post Covid. I think the lockdowns and authoritarianism had a significant impact on people around the world (one could argue this was the intent). Coincidentally, I left BA a couple of weeks before the lockdowns began there, and was shocked to see how the citizenry was brutalized, in my opinion, compared to many other countries.

 

[Gringo80]

I've noticed the same phenomenon with places I traveled to both pre and post Covid. I think the lockdowns and authoritarianism had a significant impact on people around the world (one could argue this was the intent). Coincidentally, I left BA a couple of weeks before the lockdowns began there, and was shocked to see how the citizenry was brutalized, in my opinion, compared to many other countries.

I live outside BA, my area is exploding with new stylish shops, cafes, restaurants, construction/renovation projects.

 

[Ries]

I have seen definite improvement since 2019. I ride the colectivos every day, and the Metrobus system is so much better than the old routes. I frequently find myself on new buses- I have been on 2 or 3 this year so new that the protective plastic was still on the seats.
Never been on a bus in Argentina with a drunk, much less a drunk who is using the bus as a bathroom, or someone dying of an overdose. All of which happen pretty frequently in LA or Seattle or Vancouver...

The streets in BA get cleaned frequently- the cartoneros work 7 days a week, the garbage is emptied nightly, they wash around the dumpsters once a week. If a pile of garbage is left by a freelance cartonero (most are members of the over 20 Unions across the city) its cleaned up within a day. Fuming piles of trash in Seattle or LA can last months (I lived in both for over ten years each).

The bike lanes are a huge improvement- many of my friends use bikes a sole transportation.

I see drunk driver stops at night, accidents are cleaned up promptly, in general fire and emt services are good.

All of this was started before 2019, but it didnt stop then.
Obviously, the economy has caused a lot of places to go out of business, but I see new shops and restaurants popping up all the time, even since Milei.

A ton of new construction in many barrios, as, tragically, classic old houses are torn down and new 9 story apartment buildings are being thrown up- I often walk by five to ten a day, in my wanderings.

 

[Reply Guy]

It really depends on the area of the country. The nice parts of CABA and Argentina look just as good or better than years ago in my opinion. Our new mayor has posted photos of areas where there used to be homeless people and their stuff, now cleaned up. They have just been moved somewhere else.

Head to Lanus, La Plata, or other areas of Zona Sur and it looks worse than ever.

 

[dlish]

I live outside BA, my area is exploding with new stylish shops, cafes, restaurants, construction/renovation projects.

Tigre/Nordelta?

 

[Ceviche]

i sm rather asking for verification from the community if it is just my perception, or if the city really does look run down compared to 2019.

you are spot on dude.

 

[El_fuego]

Having traveled through a lot of developing countries, I see a lot of places in South America and Africa backsliding in terms of basic services. Not even a regional thing but a global south phenomenon at this point.

its a global phenomenon at this point.

 

[Ries]

Post Covid, a lot of government services went online, and were simplified. I have found many things much easier to do since 2019, in terms of less tramites, less waiting in line in person, and many things quicker and easier online. Banking and finance are much easier, no longer have to be number 78 in the lobby of the bank, I can do 95% of it either online or at an atm in the lobby.
I was also amazed at how quickly hundreds, if not thousands, of downed trees after the big storm at the end of 2023 were cleaned up. The city government services here worked fast and efficiently. I often see city workers fixing problems in the dark, on weekends, and quickly.