Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
That LA is full of fake and plastic people. That's kind of true to very true in the creative/entertainment field and that's a big part of LA, but 90% of people here are just regular people like everywhere else. It's also surprisingly blue collar.
My issue with New England being Rust belt is that it’s industry was different. It declined thru the Great Depression and died off post WWII. The Rustbelt was thriving thru the mid 60s. So while Cleveland, Milwaukee, Buffalo, Toledo and Pittsburgh all deindustrialised together. Lowell, Worcester, Providence, Augusta were already 25+ years into deindustrialization. Second Soithern New England is very different demographically. Cleveland, Toledo and Buffalo are very black and white. Hartford, Lowell and Providence are more diverse with tons of immigrants.
I think the more time that passes, the less important the 25-year gap between the fall of industry in the traditional Rust Belt vs New England is.
The demographic difference is a good point; New England's old mill cities tend to be white/Hispanic as opposed to the Midwest's white/black. But I don't think that's enough of a distinction, as I think economics are much more important in defining the Rust Belt than demographics. Not to mention, cities like Berlin, NH and Lewiston, ME are similarly downtrodden as their counterparts in the southern part of the region, but with very different demographics. I'd still call them "Rust Belt". Likewise, the cities in WV like Morgantown tend to be on the whiter side too; looking more like Lewiston (or Pittsfield) demographically than like Toledo.
Bethlehem, PA is also a widely-accepted Rust Belt city with demographics that are more similar to Fitchburg than to Flint.
Last edited by Boston Shudra; 12-14-2020 at 09:40 PM..
Boston as a gloomy climate place; in fact, in terms of annual sunshine hours, it's ahead of any major metro north of North Carolina and east of the Twin Cities.
Boston is definitely sunny. I’ve always noticed that. Seems to rain less often than in the mid-Atlantic, too.
That LA is full of fake and plastic people. That's kind of true to very true in the creative/entertainment field and that's a big part of LA, but 90% of people here are just regular people like everywhere else. It's also surprisingly blue collar.
Yep this is what I saw and have often heard about LA.
Instead of "exaggerated" could I offer up a "downplayed"?
New England usually doesn't get included in definitions of "the Rust Belt", when it probably should. There's a lot of post-industrial blight and decay that generally gets ignored in the face of the history or the cutesy, tourist towns.
I’ve seen cities in New England (but not Boston) grouped into the rust belt a few times. Particularly Hartford and Providence’s but I’ve also seen Springfield and Worcester mentioned as rust belt. It’s rare, and there is usually acknowledgment that they’re in New England, but it’s not totally unheard of.
But again it’s different because as you and btownboss said the demographics are more Hispanic and International than most of the rust belt and as a result the city is more occupied and vibrant- but t that’s not necessarily the case in all those cities.
It cracks me up living in FL how that shoveling all of that snow is one of the major "issues" that forced the move down here, especially given snowfall totals of recent years. I mean it couldn't be the wild misconception it's so much cheaper to live here, could it?
I just bought a snow shovel yesterday. I have a couple at my Vermont ski place but haven’t needed one in my summer place in the banana belt of the Massachusetts South Coast. The skiing is lousy at the moment so we haven’t relocated to Vermont for the ski season yet. I’ll have to do some shoveling on Thursday morning. I have snow tires on the Outback so it’s not much shoveling. It should all be melted by a week from now.
My summer place is 1.0 miles from the beach and 0.7 miles from the boat slip. I’m at 50 feet MSL. FEMA flood insurance this close to salt water in Florida would be more than my yearly ownership costs here. Who says Florida is cheaper?
I think the more time that passes, the less important the 25-year gap between the fall of industry in the traditional Rust Belt vs New England is.
The demographic difference is a good point; New England's old mill cities tend to be white/Hispanic as opposed to the Midwest's white/black. But I don't think that's enough of a distinction, as I think economics are much more important in defining the Rust Belt than demographics. Not to mention, cities like Berlin, NH and Lewiston, ME are similarly downtrodden as their counterparts in the southern part of the region, but with very different demographics. I'd still call them "Rust Belt". Likewise, the cities in WV like Morgantown tend to be on the whiter side too; looking more like Lewiston (or Pittsfield) demographically than like Toledo.
Bethlehem, PA is also a widely-accepted Rust Belt city with demographics that are more similar to Fitchburg than to Flint.
Everybody here is Portuguese-Azores. When Brazil played Portugal in the World Cup 10 years ago, it was like a neutron bomb hit. New Bedford Ma had no people on the streets at all. The census shows “white” because Portuguese isn’t classified as Hispanic. Black here is Cape Verdean, also Portuguese-speaking.
The whaling era ended a bit after the civil war. The textile mill era was dying by 1900 as the mills moved to the Carolinas. New Bedford and Fall River were downtrodden long before the rust belt cities. White flight to suburbia was a mid-20th century thing. At the 1929 stock market crash, people lived in cities. Most northern cities were predominantly white.
Everybody here is Portuguese-Azores. When Brazil played Portugal in the World Cup 10 years ago, it was like a neutron bomb hit. New Bedford Ma had no people on the streets at all. The census shows “white” because Portuguese isn’t classified as Hispanic. Black here is Cape Verdean, also Portuguese-speaking.
The whaling era ended a bit after the civil war. The textile mill era was dying by 1900 as the mills moved to the Carolinas. New Bedford and Fall River were downtrodden long before the rust belt cities. White flight to suburbia was a mid-20th century thing. At the 1929 stock market crash, people lived in cities. Most northern cities were predominantly white.
This isn't really true. New Bedford is like 25% Hispanic. Many Puerto Ricans and Central Americans. And there are and have always been some non-Cape Verdean black people in New Bedford dating back to before Frederick Douglass' arrival in the city. Portuguese people are a little under 40% of New Bedford. They're an outsized influence but there are definitely many Hispanics and a few African Americans in New Bedford.
Portuguese people are white. New Bedford is 59% white. So it's pretty easy to surmise something like 65% of the white people in New Bedford are Portuguese. I also say~ 67% of the Black Population is Cape Verdean. Both feel about right.
I have a "yes and no" for Buffalo, and that's snow, cold, and cloudiness.
Yes it can be snowy, cloudy, and cold - but in most of the area not much different than other places in the Great Lakes and Northeast.
Lake Erie creates a microclimate in the area, and there is a wide, wide difference in snow and cloud cover depending on location near the lake. Lake effect snow bands can be as narrow as just a couple of miles, with clear blue skies on either side. The heaviest snow areas are south of the city where the hills rise up to 1500' higher than the lake, and get more clouds and 4x the snow than areas north of the city receive. Areas north of downtown usually average about the same snowfall as places like Milwaukee, Chicago, or Boston. The weather station at the airport sort of splits the difference, 2x what the Northtowns get, and half what the Southtowns and ski areas get.
The whole area gets the reputation of the heaviest snow places, even though it is predominately south of the city.
This isn't really true. New Bedford is like 25% Hispanic. Many Puerto Ricans and Central Americans. And there are and have always been some non-Cape Verdean black people in New Bedford dating back to before Frederick Douglass' arrival in the city. Portuguese people are a little under 40% of New Bedford. They're an outsized influence but there are definitely many Hispanics and a few African Americans in New Bedford.
Portuguese people are white. New Bedford is 59% white. So it's pretty easy to surmise something like 65% of the white people in New Bedford are Portuguese. I also say~ 67% of the Black Population is Cape Verdean. Both feel about right.
The new arrivals are largely Hispanic with lots of Puerto Rico flight. Sure, Fredric Douglas lived in New Bedford for a bit but it was never a southern migration destination. Lack of economic opportunity for unskilled labor compared to other northern cities in that era. The little African-American population that was in New Bedford in the 1960s was largely pushed out after the race riots in ~1970. What didn’t burn was bulldozed for urban renewal.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
