NEW York, USA Sep 25 – Walking through Manhattan during the 80th United Nations General Assembly is like stepping into a living case study of how a megacity can function under intense pressure.
Over 150 heads of state and government converge on New York each September for the UN’s high-level week, joined by thousands of diplomats, security teams and journalists. Yet the city runs — not perfectly, but impressively — with an order and security that would feel utopian in Nairobi.
From Seventh Avenue to First Avenue: A City on Foot
From my hotel on Seventh Avenue, 56th Street, I could walk minutes away to Jazz at Lincoln Center at 10 Columbus Circle for the Gates Foundation’s annual Goalkeepers event where Bill Gates announced his committment of $912 million to the Global Fund.
From left to right: A moderator steers a session with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez (centre), recipient of the Gates Foundation’s Global Goalkeeper Award 2025 for Spain’s increased support for global health and expanded development aid, with Bill Gates on the right.
I could stroll into Central Park for a breath of evening air, or head east to First Avenue to follow global conversations at UN headquarters.
On duty at UNGA 80 — Capital Group Editorial Director Bernard Momanyi outside UN HQ, New York.
The experience was the same each time: clean pavements, clear signage, NYPD officers at nearly every junction who do not override the lights but enforce them, and pedestrians who cross only when the signals change.
During UNGA week, taxis are expensive, slow and often restricted. Even when you hail one, it will likely drop you far from your destination. So people, from Presidents, ministers to journalists from around the world choose to walk.
Reporters and camera crews work outside the UN headquarters in New York, filing stories as world leaders gather for the 80th General Assembly.
And walking reveals what no limousine ride can show: a city whose order is built into its design and culture.
The Spectacle of Times Square
Passing through Times Square along Seventh Avenue is a spectacle in itself: huge digital billboards flashing day and night; street artists offering to draw your portrait for a fee; families with children watching impromptu performances under the neon glow.
Pedestrians cross a Manhattan avenue in perfect synchrony with traffic lights during UNGA week, illustrating New York’s trademark order on its streets.
Activities buzz 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This is “the city that never sleeps,” yet it feels safe and strangely intimate — children running between parents, tourists taking photos without looking over their shoulders. I came back at night just to marvel at the light shows and street performers.
Live performances light up Times Square at night, where families and tourists mingle safely in the heart of New York’s round-the-clock buzz.
Street Food and Cravings from Home
Starbucks cups are everywhere, New Yorkers crisscrossing the avenues with coffee in hand. Fast-food icons like McDonald’s, Burger King, and former US President Barrack Obama’s favourite-Five Guys, which I had to try out sit beside delis and food trucks selling bagels, wraps, hot dogs, tacos and falafel.
Sampling a classic burger at Five Guys in Midtown Manhattan — a favourite stop for fast-food lovers, including former US President Barack Obama.
Pizza slices larger than your plate are served on paper plates; the smell of grilled burgers drifts from every corner. This makes it easy to grab a quick bite even inside the security bubble.
Pizza slices bigger than the plate draw hungry crowds in Manhattan, part of the city’s irresistible fast-food culture.
My trip in New York wouldn’t be complete without trying the street food lined up in trucks along the avenues. This is part of the city’s DNA — a leveller where construction workers, students, and even the world’s super-rich grab a bite.
Street food from a truck on a Manhattan avenue — part of New York’s DNA.
In September last year, Microsoft founder Bill Gates made headlines when he stopped at a hot-dog cart in Times Square. Here, no one blinks at billionaires lining up at food trucks.
In Nairobi, such informal eateries are often treated as eyesores rather than embraced as a vibrant piece of urban life. Why would we not be comfortable stopping to grab a smocha.
Yet after days of burgers, pizza, hot dogs and wraps, I found myself missing a simple Kenyan staple: ugali. Even for a week away, that familiar taste stays with you. It was a reminder that while cities can offer you everything, home still calls in the simplest ways.
Another thing that struck me is New York’s fine-dining culture, which spills naturally into the streets.
Many restaurants extend their seating onto pavements and cordoned-off lanes, turning ordinary sidewalks into lively outdoor cafés.
Outdoor dining in Midtown Manhattan — restaurants extending onto pavements and cordoned-off lanes to create lively street cafés.
Under string lights and umbrellas, diners linger over seafood, steaks, or gourmet pasta while taxis and cyclists glide by. There’s an energy to eating outside here — a sense of openness and community. In Nairobi, al-fresco dining still feels like a niche novelty; in Manhattan it is mainstream, woven into the city’s fabric, and gives every meal — from a quick salad to a Michelin-starred feast — the thrill of watching the city pulse around you
Buses, Bikes and Subways: The Arteries of a Mega-City
Another striking difference is the transport system. Manhattan’s dedicated bus lanes and bike lanes are clearly marked and respected.
Clean-energy buses crisscross the city on predictable schedules.
Cyclists zip by in their own protected corridors.
Below ground, the subway network moves millions daily — a complex but efficient system that lets you reach almost any borough quickly and cheaply. Trains are frequent, signage is clear, and you can switch between lines without the chaos Kenyans associate with matatu stages or train transfers.
For shorter distances, City Bikes are parked in neat blue rows across Manhattan. You swipe a card or tap your phone, pick one up, ride to your destination and dock it at another station.
Commuters in suits, tourists with cameras and even delivery riders use the same system. It’s a simple, disciplined approach to shared mobility that could easily be replicated in Nairobi if bike lanes were protected and respected.
For longer distances, New York’s regional trains — from Penn Station or Grand Central — link seamlessly to suburbs and neighbouring states. The commuter rail, the PATH train to New Jersey, and even the ferries across the Hudson integrate into one transit map. The message is clear: movement is planned, not improvised.
Safety in Numbers: NYPD and Security Agencies
And through it all, the NYPD and federal agencies keep watch with a presence that is strict but friendly. Officers direct lost visitors, check IDs at barricades, and secure convoys for world leaders — all while still policing a city of 20 million people. Road closures and barricades are well marked, signage is clear, officers are approachable — I even watched one use his phone to locate a cross-street for three African delegates.
During UNGA week, the NYPD works hand in hand with the Secret Service and the UN Department of Safety and Security to protect presidents, prime ministers, monarchs and thousands of delegates, yet ordinary life continues. People walk their dogs — a quintessential New York scene — on the same pavements where world leaders’ convoys pass.
Small poodles, golden retrievers, mutts in sweaters: all part of the city’s rhythm.
It is not flawless — homelessness is visible in some areas and not every street is as pristine as Fifth Avenue’s luxury row. But the systems work.
Shopping Streets of the World’s Elite
Walking east from Times Square toward Fifth Avenue, the scenery shifts from flashing billboards to glass-fronted temples of luxury.
Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Dior, Tiffany, Stefano Ricci, Coach, Ferragano and other global brands line the sidewalks.
Even in UNGA week, when motorcades dominate the avenues, shoppers still slip in and out of these stores, coffee cups in hand. This coexistence of high fashion, public transport and street performers is uniquely New York; in Nairobi such areas are still rarefied zones rather than part of the everyday walking experience.
Seeing the City: Double-Decker Tours and Memorials
Despite my packed schedule, I carved out a few hours for sightseeing, hopping on an open-top double-decker bus for a two-and-a-half-hour loop of Uptown, Downtown and Brooklyn.
The “hop-on, hop-off” model let me explore on foot and re-board later. I got off at the World Trade Center memorial to reflect at the 9/11 site honouring the 2,983 people killed in the attacks — a sobering counterpoint to Manhattan’s bright lights.
From high above the bus, the city’s planning is visible: the numbered grid of streets and avenues, the parks punctuating the skyline, the bicycle lanes painted in green, the bus lanes in red, the recycling bins at every corner. Even chaos is organised.
The Lesson for Nairobi
Back home, our leaders rarely walk on city streets. Yet here in New York they cross avenues on foot and shop incognito.
Year after year, thr national government, counties and other agencies spend millions of shillings on “benchmarking” trips abroad, yet little of the order, safety or service they experience finds its way home.
Security, traffic management, urban cleanliness, public transport and citizen service are not mysteries.
They are the product of systems, accountability and culture. If New York can keep order with a population larger than Nairobi’s plus the influx of world leaders, Nairobi can do far better than it does now. It requires political will, planning and a shift from ad hoc policing to rule-based management, an end to corruption and mismanagement of public resources.
As UNGA Ends, New York Remains
As UNGA draws to a close, the city remains. It thrives. Its clean buses keep running, its subway keeps humming, its City Bikes keep rolling and its food trucks keep feeding all comers.
Its police keep the peace while pointing lost visitors to the right street. The lesson is clear: the order, safety and service Kenyans admire abroad are not exotic luxuries. They are achievable — if only our leaders truly wanted to replicate them because they have seen and experienced all this, not just in New York, but in all other world capitals.