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Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by btownboss4
Honestly I think Lynn, Nahant all in inside-128 Middlesex and Brookline and Quincy should be a “Greater Boston” County then Essex county from Salem North and then Middlesex east of Acton is a North Shore/Merrimack Valley west of Tyngsboro western Middlesex and Northern Worcester become a “Wachusett County” then Southern Worcester county remains Worcester County. The Southern towns of Middlesex outside of 128 and south of rt 2 become part of Norfolk County.
Yeah, you're on the right track and akin to what Connecticut is doing. I always forget about Norfolk County. What comes to mind is..... that area near Gillette Stadium & the Wrentham Outlets. Thanks for putting that Wachusett Mountain jingle in my head.
In Washington, counties play a big role in land use. Seattle-area counties are huge, including a lot of protected land on the edges of town that might otherwise be developed. This land is only protected because of urban electorates. It would be a disaster if we split things up.
The protected land is ALL National Forest which has NOTHING to do with urban electorates.
It has lots to do with Theodore Roosevelt and the Republicans at the turn two centuries ago.
In Washington state, under the Growth Management Act the Governor has the authority to VETO county zoning ordinances
and the Democrats have done it time and time again to allow Industrial Wind Areas to destroy eastern Washington.
There's a lot of protection in the Seattle area (and elsewhere) that has nothing to do with National Forest land. For example a lot of areas allow big lots but not small ones, or are protected more comprehensively.
And yes, county planning does have to follow State law under the Growth Management Act. That's called following the law...a veto regards new legislation. And yes the law changes over time, as it will again this year...including new rules counties need to follow. The voters have supported the GMA again and again, thankfully.
Regarding Connecticut, creating a regional planning region for the Waterbury area makes the most sense.
But my question, since Connecticut is talking creating about creating 9 regional planning regions when there are already 8 Connecticut counties, why not simply...
- give the proposed planning powers back to the counties
- create a new 9th county around Waterbury
- changes some of the county boundaries to match the proposed planning regions they are talking about
You get the same result of the proposed planning regions but by using the historic Connecticut counties, some of which go back to the 1600s.
Does anyone guess if this keeps Hartford around 1,150,000 (Capital+Lower Valley)or will completely cut out its outer suburbs and bring it down to 976,000?
An interesting fact about Connecticut is that on average municipalities tend to be small in land area compared to what is often seen in other parts of the USA. This leads to something you kind of touch on. Take Bridgeport as an example. That municipality is mostly composed by rundown ghettoes (it would easily be one of the most beautiful cities if it wasn't so rundown, because overall Bridgeport has nice architecture) and working class neighborhoods with Black Rock being an exception of a nice neighborhood. Most of the really nice neighborhoods near Bridgeport are in the bordering towns in all directions except the south. In many areas of the USA all the towns bordering Bridgeport would be within the Bridgeport municipality.
Quote:
Originally Posted by btownboss4
It’s also possible that New Haven drops out of the NYC CSA if eastern New Haven County gets cut out of New Haven County.
New Haven is within the NYC CSA, but that is a technicality since that is the most eastern edge. In reality New Haven is the in real Connecticut. There is a marked difference in the way is the typical person in New Haven vs Stamford or Norwalk where it's more of a transition zone between New England and the Mid-Atlantic (especially NY). If you run a business that caters to the public and have stores say in Stamford, another one in Fairfield, and another one in New Haven; trust me that you will notice the difference in the way the people act. In places like Stamford there is a heavy presence of New Yorkers due to the vicinity and after a while you can accurately tell who is from CT and who is originally from New York simply by looking at them and not saying one word. To put it bluntly, actusl Connecticut people (not including transplant from NY/NJ or other non-New England states) are more laidback and generally are nicer people and not as rude. There is something about NY and particularly NYC that make people think they are the center of the world. Of course, there are exceptions to everything.
Does anyone guess if this keeps Hartford around 1,150,000 (Capital+Lower Valley)or will completely cut out its outer suburbs and bring it down to 976,000?
It’s also possible that New Haven drops out of the NYC CSA if eastern New Haven County gets cut out of New Haven County.
I do find it interesting because how counties currently function you’re often welding together two areas that act differently and putting the whole thing into one category
>> It’s also possible that New Haven drops out of the NYC CSA if eastern New Haven County gets cut out of New Haven County.
As long as there is Yale (Yale Club NYC - largest private university club in the world) and Metro-North service direct to GCT via Stamford, New Haven will remain part of the NYC CSA.
Supply chains in the New Haven area really a mix of everything which is cool. For example, you would see NY-based speciality food at a Whole Foods in Milford, stores from both NYC and Providence opening in Downtown New Haven (along with local homegrown spots), and then hop over to Branford/Madison for the laidback CT vibes.
With that said, New Haven and Middlesex (Middletown) are really "Connecticut" in feel/essence.
Western Connecticut Region or FFC should be a part of the NYC MSA. It's in a separate Federal Reserve Bank region (nation's money supply) from the rest of CT and many foreign consulates lump it in with NYC. It should definitely still be a part of Connecticut in case anyone is wondering. The mix packed into a small land area along with the history and solid job of adaptive reuse makes CT pretty special, albeit under the radar but definitely a good state.
Western Connecticut - It's my favorite part of the state because you get a mix of Mid-Atlantic go-getter with laidback, aesthetic, and cerebral aspects of New England. It's expensive, but really good grocery shopping, cute historic town centers, robust local media (both metropolitan from NYC (best of the best) and quaint local independent one - folks really like their towns), and tons of things to do, along with forests and the water if you want to get away from everything.
One thing that's unique to CT and a few other states - there are no unincorporated land areas. Every single piece of land in the state is mapped to a town and/or city. For sparse areas, CT State Police ("Staties") do some of the patroling. Also - unlike other places I've lived in, the State takes an active role in building inspection and managing transportation (I guess it's economies of scale and makes sense given CT's small size - we still have a TON of towns).
I do like how intentional CT is being about planning regions. It really does keep an eye on service delivery and its government operations compared to some of the other states I've lived. California could learn a thing or two from tiny CT on how to deliver good value for tax dollars received relatively speaking.
Last edited by norcal2k19; 02-20-2023 at 08:51 AM..
An interesting fact about Connecticut is that on average municipalities tend to be small in land area compared to what is often seen in other parts of the USA. This leads to something you kind of touch on. Take Bridgeport as an example. That municipality is mostly composed by rundown ghettoes (it would easily be one of the most beautiful cities if it wasn't so rundown, because overall Bridgeport has nice architecture) and working class neighborhoods with Black Rock being an exception of a nice neighborhood. Most of the really nice neighborhoods near Bridgeport are in the bordering towns in all directions except the south. In many areas of the USA all the towns bordering Bridgeport would be within the Bridgeport municipality.
New Haven is within the NYC CSA, but that is a technicality since that is the most eastern edge. In reality New Haven is the in real Connecticut. There is a marked difference in the way is the typical person in New Haven vs Stamford or Norwalk where it's more of a transition zone between New England and the Mid-Atlantic (especially NY). If you run a business that caters to the public and have stores say in Stamford, another one in Fairfield, and another one in New Haven; trust me that you will notice the difference in the way the people act. In places like Stamford there is a heavy presence of New Yorkers due to the vicinity and after a while you can accurately tell who is from CT and who is originally from New York simply by looking at them and not saying one word. To put it bluntly, actusl Connecticut people (not including transplant from NY/NJ or other non-New England states) are more laidback and generally are nicer people and not as rude. There is something about NY and particularly NYC that make people think they are the center of the world. Of course, there are exceptions to everything.
That’s been my general sense in New Haven vs Bridgeport Stanford Norwalk.
It’s the true cultural center of CT. With NYC influence but more New Englandy…
Bridgeport has some of the worst bastardizations of the triple decker in New England only better than Hartford. The architecture is New England but sort of lazy- less ornate than what you see in Mass or even Hartford Italianate buildings. The super small lots, run dow ness and gridded nature give Bridgeport a bit more of an NJ type vibe to me than Hartford or New Haven.
But Bridgeport has more nice-ish middle class neighborhoods in its borders than Hartford, sort of like Waterbury.
9 planning divisions seems like a bit much but I guess so.
TriState
Capital
Northwest
Northeast
Southeast
Naugatuck Valley
Middlesex
New Haven
An interesting fact about Connecticut is that on average municipalities tend to be small in land area compared to what is often seen in other parts of the USA. This leads to something you kind of touch on. Take Bridgeport as an example. That municipality is mostly composed by rundown ghettoes (it would easily be one of the most beautiful cities if it wasn't so rundown, because overall Bridgeport has nice architecture) and working class neighborhoods with Black Rock being an exception of a nice neighborhood. Most of the really nice neighborhoods near Bridgeport are in the bordering towns in all directions except the south. In many areas of the USA all the towns bordering Bridgeport would be within the Bridgeport municipality.
New Haven is within the NYC CSA, but that is a technicality since that is the most eastern edge. In reality New Haven is the in real Connecticut. There is a marked difference in the way is the typical person in New Haven vs Stamford or Norwalk where it's more of a transition zone between New England and the Mid-Atlantic (especially NY). If you run a business that caters to the public and have stores say in Stamford, another one in Fairfield, and another one in New Haven; trust me that you will notice the difference in the way the people act. In places like Stamford there is a heavy presence of New Yorkers due to the vicinity and after a while you can accurately tell who is from CT and who is originally from New York simply by looking at them and not saying one word. To put it bluntly, actusl Connecticut people (not including transplant from NY/NJ or other non-New England states) are more laidback and generally are nicer people and not as rude. There is something about NY and particularly NYC that make people think they are the center of the world. Of course, there are exceptions to everything.
To the bolded, lack of exposure. NYC is so big and super hard to get out of, so when you spend 99.9% of your time in one place you start believing its the best place/center of the world. I mean, its all you know. Since I graduated college a few years ago, a lot of my friends went back to NYC and have not left Queens/Brooklyn/Manhattan/The Bronx. So when they finally move, its a huge culture shock.
There will always be a struggle between people who have identity pride with the traditional, and those who fought a hard election for some power they can abuse. Power-abusers always win.
Canada forced Quebec to "re-county", they refused. They went through the administrative motions, but after 50 years, Quebec still recognizes "historic counties" on maps and road signs.
MA and RI already abolished counties, except for judicial jurisdictions, but they're still on maps. Guess why -- people like them.. Otherwise, onli WI, AZ, NM and CO have fooled with historic counties, adding one county each, and SD abolished a few.. Texas has one with under 100 peoplr -- that's OK, their counties mean something.
In many states, births, deaths and marriage records are in the court house. What will you do? Get out every document, figure out where it now belongs, and and ship boxes of originals across new borders?
I don't think CT, as well as neighboring MA and RI, should have ever abolished county governance in the first place, as the lack of county governance is too out of alignment with the rest of the country.
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