Question for everyone: Should Erie have its' own subforum? (Philadelphia: buy, vs.)

[badguykc]

A lot of people from Erie post on here or ask questions relative to Erie/NW Pennsylvania. Therefore, does anyone else agree with me that Erie and Northwest Pennsylvania should have our own subforum on CD?

[Ohiogirl81]

I generally don't care for subforums because they promote divisiveness and regionalism instead of fostering cohesiveness throughout the state ... but in Erie's case, perhaps it would be a good thing because then the rest of the state would realize that Erie is, indeed, in Pennsylvania.

Conversation a few weeks ago with a co-worker:

Co-worker: What are you doing for Labor Day?
Me: Going to Erie to visit my mom.
Co-worker: Where's Erie?
Me: On Lake Erie.
Co-worker: In Ohio?
Me: *heavy sigh* No, in Pennsylvania.
Co-worker: Oh. Really?

[SPSGuy]

No offense to your coworker, but if he or she is that oblivious to geography then they must not be that bright. I mean, anybody with a average IQ and above looked at a map and knows what towns and cities are at least in their own state.

There could be a NW PA subforum. One that would include Oil City, Franklin, Erie, ETC.

[BTA88]

Erie should only get its own subforum if Lancaster gets its own subforum. Considering Lancaster has twice the metro of Erie, and it's explicitly excluded from both the "Harrisburg area" sub and the "Philadelphia" sub.

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81

I generally don't care for subforums because they promote divisiveness and regionalism instead of fostering cohesiveness throughout the state ... but in Erie's case, perhaps it would be a good thing because then the rest of the state would realize that Erie is, indeed, in Pennsylvania.

Conversation a few weeks ago with a co-worker:

Co-worker: What are you doing for Labor Day?
Me: Going to Erie to visit my mom.
Co-worker: Where's Erie?
Me: On Lake Erie.
Co-worker: In Ohio?
Me: *heavy sigh* No, in Pennsylvania.
Co-worker: Oh. Really?

Hey, to be fair, Erie was supposed to be in New York, but the boundaries were redrawn to give NY and PA equal access to the lake.

[trackstar13]

Originally Posted by BTA88

Erie should only get its own subforum if Lancaster gets its own subforum. Considering Lancaster has twice the metro of Erie, and it's explicitly excluded from both the "Harrisburg area" sub and the "Philadelphia" sub.

Hey, to be fair, Erie was supposed to be in New York, but the boundaries were redrawn to give NY and PA equal access to the lake.

Metro sizes are not always the best indicator of a city's relative size, especially for medium size cities like Erie and Lancaster. Erie is way down the list in PA in terms of metro area populations and the main reason is because it is not close enough to another medium size or large city to add that population to the metro area. In the case of Lancaster vs. Erie, urbanized population is the best indicator because the Lancaster MSA includes Reading, Harrisburg, and Philadelphia suburbs in its own metro population, while Erie does not have a medium or large city nearby. To be fair Lancaster's urbanized area population should be much higher since the city boundaries for Lancaster are a little small, but I could also argue that Erie should be able to include Jamestown NY, Conneaut OH, Ashtabula OH, etc. in its MSA. However, the Erie MSA boundaries are extended southward rather than East/West.

Erie city population = 101,807
Lancaster city population = 59,322

Erie urbanized area population = 195,000
Lancaster urbanized area population = 59,322

Erie metro population = 280,985
Lancaster metro population = 494,486

This map shows more of what I am talking about: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...uerto_Rico.gif

[trackstar13]

To summarize what I am saying in my above post, I am asserting the following:

1) The boundaries for Erie's MSA make it seem artificially small.
2) The boundaries for Lancaster's MSA make it seem artificially large.
3) The urbanized area population for Erie is fair.
4) The urbanized area population for Lancaster is underestimated.
5) I believe both cities/areas are similar in population size rather than Erie being much smaller or larger than Lancaster.

[BTA88]

Originally Posted by track2514

To summarize what I am saying in my above post, I am asserting the following:

1) The boundaries for Erie's MSA make it seem artificially small.
2) The boundaries for Lancaster's MSA make it seem artificially large.
3) The urbanized area population for Erie is fair.
4) The urbanized area population for Lancaster is underestimated.
5) I believe both cities/areas are similar in population size rather than Erie being much smaller or larger than Lancaster.

A fair assessment. It's easy to underestimate Lancaster, since it's kind of odd-man-out. It's not influential like Phila or Harrisburg, the city is odd considering the rural nature of the county. I do think there should be a NWPA and PA Dutch Country sub.

[PreservationPioneer]

Lancaster gets so much attention. What about York?

[trackstar13]

Angel that reminds me of the movie "What about Bob?" York is a little further from Philly and Reading than Lancaster and I feel the PA Dutch country and proximity of Lancaster to several areas has made it a place people discuss or travel to more often.

[SPSGuy]

yes, Lancaster is much more popular with the tourism industry. People like my parents love to go out there, visit the Amish, and buy their shoefly pies. York is further from the Amish tourism base even though it is a historic gem.