Another NEWSDAY geographic goof, "1 killed when tree falls on car on I.U. Willets Road" (New York: schools, taxation)

[Walter Greenspan]

Here's a case of NEWSDAY referring to a hamlet as a village:

1 killed when tree falls on car on I.U. Willets Road -- Newsday.com (broken link)


In the first paragraph, the article states, "A person was killed when a large tree toppled onto a car yesterday afternoon on I.U. Willets Road at the border of the villages of Old Westbury and Roslyn Heights."

While Old Westbury is a village (a municipal corporation), Roslyn Heights is not; Roslyn Heights is a hamlet (an unincorporated area).

For the New York State definition of city, village, hamlet: http://www.city-data.com/forum/new-y...-glossary.html

[Glad2BHere]

When reading this article, all that matters is that someone lost their life and many others lost a loved one. Honestly, who cares about the geography in this case? I hardly think that's a critical aspect of the article.

[Walter Greenspan]

Originally Posted by Glad2BHere

When reading this article, all that matters is that someone's loved one died here. Honestly, who cares about the geography in this case?

Not to minimize the horror of what occurred, but correct geography is always important, especially from LI's main newspaper, which supposedly should know better.

[omigawd]

Half of the people on LI don't know where one town ends and the next begins or what hamlet belongs to which township or what village is incorporated, etc.... It's really not all that important...

As far as Newsday is concerned...... it's a rag. Use it for bird cage liner.

[watamensch]

Take it easy Walter... while you are correct that we all should be studied in the difference, I must agree that the death of this person is the point. I am sure their loved ones don't care about villages, hamlets, towns or counties.

As far as Newsday's goof... I suggest sending them a letter to correct them.

[Walter Greenspan]

Originally Posted by omigawd

Half of the people on LI don't know where one town ends and the next begins ...

While it is not as big a problem for those living in a village, the biggest confusion is because of the USPS' use of non-conforming ZIP Code postal zones, and many people think they live in the community whose name is in their mailing address, when more than half the places are in a different community than the community in that place's mailing address.

Originally Posted by omigawd

... or what hamlet belongs to which township ...

There are no townships on LI. I know this because there are no townships in New York State, and Nassau and Suffolk Counties are still part of New York State. But, because hamlets are called "towns", the error is compounded when towns are then called "townships".

Generally speaking, where there are townships, townships are not sub-dividable, and if there were townships in New York State, there would not be any villages.

In New York State, the closest thing to a township are the 5 coterminous town-villages:

A coterminous town-village is where the town and the village have the same name and have the same exact border and the town supervisor/town board and the village mayor/board of trustees are the same.

Three of the 5 coterminous town-villages are in Westchester County (Harrison, Mount Kisco and Scarsdale), one is in Albany County (Green Island) and one is in Monroe County (East Rochester).

Originally Posted by omigawd

... or what village is incorporated, etc. ...

In New York State, villages by definition are municipal corporations and thus there are no villages that are not incorporated.

Originally Posted by omigawd

It's really not all that important...

Au contraire: failure to know the correct geography is a prime cause that most do not understand local gov't and local taxation.

[Walter Greenspan]

Originally Posted by watamensch

As far as Newsday's goof... I suggest sending them a letter to correct them.

Welcome back.

The reporter, the editor and others at NEWSDAY were eMailed before I began this thread.

[pdcnret]

While the correct geographic information may be important to some, not everybody cares. We don't have to be beat up by "geographic correctness" every time some post simply mentions a place. In fact, it's getting rather tedious. Let's give the "Geography Police" a rest.

[sean sean sean sean]

Yeah come on Walter, this is not in the best taste....I agree with you that it's a disgrace how poorly versed local residents are in geography - probably a result of not being taught it in schools - but there is also a point of diminishing returns to making the same posts over and over and over again. Eventually, most folks are just going to skip right over them. Why not sign up for Wikipedia and incorporate that info into their articles? Then you could link to the Wikipedia pages when places are discussed on here, most of which include other aspects like info on schools, culture, etc. ?

[Walter Greenspan]

Originally Posted by sean sean sean sean

I agree with you that it's a disgrace how poorly versed local residents are in geography - probably a result of not being taught it in schools ...

That, plus many came from New York City without any understanding of local geography.