Describe Your County
       |           

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?
March 28, 2024, 11:40:36 AM
News: Election Simulator 2.0 Released. Senate/Gubernatorial maps, proportional electoral votes, and more - Read more

  Talk Elections
  General Politics
  Political Geography & Demographics (Moderators: muon2, 15 Down, 35 To Go)
  Describe Your County
« previous next »
Pages: [1] 2
Author Topic: Describe Your County  (Read 4992 times)
CountyTy90
Jr. Member
***
Posts: 324
United States


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« on: October 27, 2014, 10:21:39 PM »

Describe in depth your county. Demographics, cities/towns, landscape, topography, industry, education, etc. and of course political leanings/voting patterns (and if regional voting patterns exist explain).
Logged
CountyTy90
Jr. Member
***
Posts: 324
United States


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #1 on: October 27, 2014, 10:22:46 PM »

LaSalle County, Illinois

LaSalle County is located in northern Illinois, just outside the limits of the Chicago Metro Area. In 2010 it had a population of 113,924, a small increase from 2000. It really could be described as the typical American county with urban centers and rural areas, agriculture, industry, education, and transportation keeping it alive.

We are centrally located in the Midwest; the Illinois River cuts the county in half making a north and south section and we have Interstate 80 and Interstate 39 that cut across the county as well as US Route 6.

As I said before there are urban centers (at least urban for this area) such as LaSalle-Peru, Ottawa, and Streator. All these cities have more than 10,000 people and various types of industry such as manufacturing and in the Illinois River valley most towns have large grain elevators built along the Illinois River. Many chemical companies also lie in the river valley like nitrogen storage areas and GE Plastics. My hometown is home to LaSalle Nuclear Generating Station, known around here just as Com Ed (though Exelon owns it now) and that has brought the town a considerable amount of tax dollars. Outside the valley, small towns with little job opportunities dot the prairie and most of the county outside the valley is dedicated heavily to corn/soybean agriculture.

Demographically LaSalle County is overwhelmingly white; around 90% I would guess. Ottawa, Streator, LaSalle-Peru, and Mendota have the largest minority populations, which aren’t that large. The city of Mendota is home to a Del Monte plant which has given the city a large Hispanic population.

Geographically it’s a large county, the second largest in Illinois, and is made up mostly of rolling to flat farmland (previously prairie). However, the Illinois River flows through and creates a valley which is where most of the population lives. Starved Rock State Park is located in Utica, Illinois and is the most popular state park in Illinois. It’s made up of waterfalls, cliffs, and hills along the Illinois River and is the biggest tourist attraction in the county by far. Outside the valley is pretty much… nothing; mainly just farmland; few large stands of trees, with the exception along smaller rivers like the Vermillion and Fox and other tributaries of the Illinois.
As I’ve stated, most of the population lives in the Illinois River Valley. From east to west towns are Seneca (my hometown), Marseilles, Ottawa, Utica, LaSalle, and Peru. Outside the valley the largest city is Streator in the southern end of the county followed by Mendota located in the northwestern part. Aside from those listed, numerous towns, villages, and unincorporated areas are found throughout the county and their main economic activity is farming.

Politically the county is somewhat swingy. Previously it had a Democratic tilt. It was a manufacturing center and has long had a blue collar, conservative Democratic population. That however has changed somewhat. Starting in the 2000’s, the county has swung somewhat to the Republicans, especially in statewide races and national races, though a Democrat could just as easily win countywide as a Republican. Countywide most elected officials are Democrats, though Republicans aren’t far behind. Cities like Ottawa, Marseilles, Streator, and Peru are generally Democratic, while smaller towns like mine, Seneca, is swingy to slightly Republican. Once outside the valley, the county is rural and predominantly Republican, though again, Democrats can win those areas.
Logged
memphis
Atlas Icon
*****
Posts: 15,959


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #2 on: October 27, 2014, 11:20:55 PM »

Shelby County, TN contains the vast majority of metro Memphis, as well as some very rural territory to the north. Official census designations notwithstanding, unlike many other metro areas, we have almost the whole mess all here in one county. City. Suburbs. Agriculture. A 13,000 acre state park that is primarily densely forested, as is our natural state here. Everybody knows about the cotton trade, but Memphis was also a hugely important lumber town a hundred or so years ago. Even in town, we're a very green space. Lawns and large trees are omnipresent, and outside of a small downtown core, there's not much of a concrete jungle, in the way that people from other parts of the country think about what a city looks like. It's way too damn hot for all that here! We have a generally flat terrain, though not completely. We have very small rolling hills in a lot of places, though certainly none of the elevation found in Middle or especially East Tennessee. Population is just under 1,000,000, which is the highest in the state, and we are the largest geographically as well. Majority black overall but not overwhelmingly so, and, like anywhere, residential patterns are largely segregated. The well to do white people (there are not many poor whites here; it's always surprising to visit other parts of the state where they are much more common) tend to cluster along Poplar Avenue, which runs the length of the county all the way from Downtown Memphis out to the ritzy suburbs of Germantown and Collierville. Poplar is also the most important commercial street, both in the sense of retail and office space in the area. It's fairly comparable to Peachtree in Atlanta, though we're obviously a smaller metro area. There are also white people in the newer, suburban places in the eastern part of the county (Cordova, Bartlett, Lakeland, Arlington). The rest of the populated areas, both the north and south sides of town, are full of black people and pretty much out of sight, out of mind for the white people, except perhaps in the sense of the "old neighborhood" that has "changed." Religion holds an enormous sway with most of the people here, black and white, though the churches are de facto segregated as well, of course. Politically, things are pretty simple here. Black people vote Democratic and White people vote Republican, except for all those funky, artsy, hipster types living in the historic properties of Midtown that have so much character with their big front porches and hundred year old oak trees. As black people are the majority, the county is safely Democratic at the presidential level, but some local offices, including county mayor, are held by Republicans.
Logged
CountyTy90
Jr. Member
***
Posts: 324
United States


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #3 on: October 28, 2014, 12:42:54 AM »

I've always been interested in Shelby County's voting patterns; when other rural parts of the South were Democratic, this county was somewhat Republican. Even up until the 1990's it voted Republican in Presidential elections, if I'm not mistaken? Are blacks only just recently making up the majority?
Logged
World politics is up Schmitt creek
Nathan
Moderators
Atlas Superstar
*****
Posts: 34,248


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #4 on: October 28, 2014, 01:05:59 AM »
« Edited: October 29, 2014, 03:34:46 PM by asexual trans victimologist »

Franklin County, Massachusetts is a mostly rural county in the northwestern part of the Commonwealth, bordered by Berkshire County to the west, Hampshire County to the south, Worcester County to the east, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north, and bisected north to south by the Connecticut River and Interstate 91. It is hilly and forested in the east and west, with well-settled flatlands along the Connecticut and villages along the Deerfield and Millers Rivers, the Connecticut's main western and eastern tributaries in the area, respectively.

The shire town is Greenfield, on the west bank of the Connecticut just above the confluence with the Deerfield. Greenfield has a (quite good) community college, a Baystate hospital, a (small) symphony orchestra, and a primarily Federal and Victorian historic district downtown. Greenfield is home to about a quarter of the county's seventy-one thousand people, and has good road and...existent...bus links to the rest of the region.

Greenfield lies at the junction of the north-south arteries of Interstate 91 and US Route 5 and the east-west artery of Massachusetts Route 2. The part of Route 2 west of Greenfield, which is called the Mohawk Trail, passes through such villages as Shelburne Falls, Charlemont, and Zoar on its way up and over the Berkshire Hills, following the course of the Deerfield River until a major bend in the latter about fifteen miles west of Greenfield. This area is woodsy and a little artsy. The part of Route 2 east of Greenfield is called the French King Highway and passes through Erving and Orange on its way to Athol and the other struggling towns of north-central Massachusetts. This area is also woodsy, but also industrial (or postindustrial) and not so artsy. The towns immediately surrounding Greenfield and to its north and south in the river valley are for the most part farmland, although some of them are becoming exurbanized, especially in the south abutting Hampshire County, home as it is to Northampton and Amherst. The main agricultural products are dairy, fruit (especially apples), and formerly tobacco. The main industries are (or were) paper manufacturing and to some extent electrical generation. Currently the largest employer in the county is Yankee Candle, which is based in the town of Deerfield, south of Greenfield.

Franklin County is part of the Springfield Metropolitan Statistical Area and itself composes the Greenfield Micropolitan Statistical Area. It has lacked government functions since 1997, although the towns in the region are for the most part members of the Franklin Council of Governments, which has taken over some of the former county's functions. It has a (paltry) Regional Transit Authority. Almost every part of Franklin County is strongly Democratic, it having undergone the same political transformation in the late twentieth century as the rest of Western Massachusetts and Vermont. Demographically, Franklin County is 95% white. The dominant ancestries are British Isles, Polish, and French-Canadian. It’s more diverse than it used to be, but not by much. Even Greenfield is pretty overwhelmingly white.

Last but sadly not least, Interstate 91 between the Springfield area and Vermont forms the ‘Iron Pipeline’, whereby drugs are smuggled into Vermont and guns are smuggled into Massachusetts. It’s a serious, serious problem.
Logged
memphis
Atlas Icon
*****
Posts: 15,959


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #5 on: October 28, 2014, 09:31:00 AM »
« Edited: October 28, 2014, 09:42:53 AM by memphis »

I've always been interested in Shelby County's voting patterns; when other rural parts of the South were Democratic, this county was somewhat Republican. Even up until the 1990's it voted Republican in Presidential elections, if I'm not mistaken? Are blacks only just recently making up the majority?
The rural parts of the county are a tiny percent of the population. I don't have any data on the rural parts of the county specifically, but for the purposes of countywide election data, we're very much an urban county. The urban South was the first to make the transition to voting Republican. Things take longer in the countryside. We last voted GOP in 1988. We are new to having a black majority, officially crossing over in about 2000. Large numbers of white people have been moving to Nashville and Atlanta in recent decades and black people have long had a higher birth rate. The area was long dominated by black versus white but, like anywhere, we now have noticeable populations of Asians and Hispanics too. I remember in the 1990s my parents thought that it was so novel that there were some South Asian students at my high school. I don't think any parents of high schoolers would be surprised by that today.
Logged
CountyTy90
Jr. Member
***
Posts: 324
United States


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #6 on: October 28, 2014, 10:34:23 AM »

Almost every part of Franklin County is strongly Democratic, it having undergone the same political transformation in the late twentieth century as the rest of Western Massachusetts and Vermont.

The swing towards Democrats in this region is fascinating. Crazy to look at past election results (of both states) compared to now. I've seen that it was due to the in migration of liberals from New York? And does the extreme conservative nature of the Republicans play into that as well?
Logged
Rockefeller GOP
Sr. Member
****
Posts: 2,936
United States


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #7 on: October 28, 2014, 11:37:33 AM »

Don't have much time, because I'm on my phone and traveling today, but I live in Bangor, ME (lovely town if you get the chance to visit!), which is located in Penobscot County.  It's a little over 150,000, mostly White (this is Maine, after all) and fairly affluent or working class depending on where you are.  Its politics, like all of Maine, are complicated.  Looking at registration statistics, there are still more registered Republicans in the county then Democrats.  We have voted for Collins and Snowe every time they've run, but who hasn't??  In POTUS elections, we've done this:

2012 - Obama (D)
2008 - Obama (D)
2004 - Kerry (D)
2000 - Bush (R)
1996 - Clinton (D)
1992 - Clinton (D) ... Definitely due to Perot split here...
1988 - Bush (R)
1984 - Reagan (R)
1980 - Reagan (R)
1976 - Ford (R)
1972 - Nixon (R)
1968 - Humphrey (D)
1964 - Johnson (D)
All GOP before this except for Roosevelt in 1912.

Our vote for Governor has been all over the place over the years, just like the rest of the state (though mostly Republican).  We voted for Independent Angus King, and we voted for LePage in 2010.  We're represented by a mix of Democrats and Republicans in the state legislature.

Seems like a lot of people with my views around here, though I'm probably more loyal to the party in voting habits.
Logged
Smash255
Atlas Icon
*****
Posts: 15,445


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #8 on: October 28, 2014, 12:10:13 PM »

Did something similar in another thread.

Nassau County, NY.  Inner NYC suburb on Long Island.  Population of around 1.35 million, population density is higher than most cities.

Fairly diverse as a whole, with a growing Hispanic and Asian populations especially, however many areas are still fairly segregated.  The county was once very Republican, though trended heavily Democratic during the 90's.  Moved back slightly GOP after  9/11, but still leans Democratic as a whole.  SE Nassau County tends to be very Republican, Democrats are strongest in central Nassau in areas with a large minority population, as well as portions of east-central and north-central (though not the far north shore) in upper middle class areas that have a large Jewish and Asian population.

Social conservatism is basically a non-starter, the Republicans areas tend to be either fiscally conservative or law and order conservative (Giuliani types)

County as a whole has one of the higher incomes in the country.   Certainly has its share of working class areas, most of the county is middle class, but with also large sections of upper middle class areas.  The upper middle class areas section by section can be some of the most politically diverse depending on the specific area.  Garden City for example is one of the most Republican portions of the county, and is heavily white with a tiny Jewish population.  Areas such as Roslyn, Jericho and the southern half of Great Neck have similar incomes as Garden City, but far more Jewish and Asian and much more Democratic as well.  Some areas of extreme wealth also exist, along the Gold Coast- these areas tend to be fairly politically diverse as well.
Logged
Flake
Flo
Junior Chimp
*****
Posts: 8,688
United States


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #9 on: October 28, 2014, 06:56:34 PM »

Lake County, Florida

Lake County is a pretty long county, from the southernmost point to the northernmost point it's 102 km. The county is also relatively hilly compared to the rest of the state (especially the rest of the peninsula), three of the ten tallest points in Florida are in Lake County. The county is diverse, depending on where you go, near Astatula, Groveland, and Howey-in-the-Hills? It's all white people. Towns like Leesburg, Clermont, and Minneola are very diverse compared to the rest of the county.

The county has many rural areas, some "native Floridian" areas, some "northern" areas, and a few poor areas (all of which I've only seen in Leesburg). Rural areas include large farms, orange/citrus groves, and areas with no human habitation, except for miles and miles of lonely roads. Native Floridian areas tend to have a southern culture, some of the best barbecue for miles (you aren't getting any great stuff in Orlando/The Villages/Four Corners), thick southron accents, and Confederate flags are common. These areas tend to be next to the rural areas. Poor areas are the same as the rest of the U.S., people are living in poverty, there's not much upkeep in the area, etc. The Northern areas are the most populated, I'd say a majority of the population lives in Northern areas, tend to vote 55-45 Democratic (the Native Floridian areas however...) and are pretty much town centers and subdivisions.

There's also some spillover effects from some cities, we have parts of Four Corners (extension of Kissimmee), and we have parts of The Villages coming over into Lake County(fun fact: this retirement community (minimum age 55+) has the highest rate of std's in the state of florida).

Clermont


Clermont's population is 30,000, triple the population it had in 2000, and it's growing rapidly. The demographics vary from one place to another, near the town center and the outskirts of the city had a higher % of blacks and hispanics respectively, and the area in the middle had a higher % of whites. The city (along with the rest of the county) is lacking in things to do, but you have the Citrus Tower, the Showcase of Citrus, the the President's Hall of Fame and the largest winery in the state of Florida. We also have the Clermont Chain of Lakes, which has over 8,000 acres of water and it's great if you're a water enthusiast and don't mind alligators or brain-eating amoeba.



Leesburg

Leesburg has a stark contrast between black neighborhoods and white neighborhoods, with white neighborhoods being considerably richer than their black counterparts, and you can tell racism is prevalent here. You've got the Leesburg Heritage Museum and the Lake Griffin State Park.



Eustis

Eustis is one of the cities with a mix between Northerners and Southrons, and it's pretty divided between both groups (the northern part of the county is like the south, the southern part of the county is like the north, it's like the state as a whole). The city is probably the most boring place in the county because the lakes are terrible imo, and all they really have is the Lake Eustis Museum of Art.



Tavares

Tavares is the county seat of Lake County, the population has been growing steadily for the past couple of years, it's nearly 14,000. The city was considered for the capital of Florida for a little while before the whole town caught on fire and needed to be rebuilt. You've got the Orange Blossom Trail Cannonball (Steam train), and uh...that's pretty much it for things not related to swimming on the beach.



Mount Dora

Mount Dora is really the poor man's The Villages but it's probably the 'homeliest' town I've been to in Florida (I think the homeliest one is a tie between Boone, NC and Lexington, VA), and it's a really quirky town. You have festivals which are very popular with Lake Olds, and with the grandbabies the olds bring. Very cute town, 10/10 would visit if you come down here. You have the Dora Canal Ride, the Mount Dora Historical Museum, and the Mount Dora Museum of Speed.

You also have towns like Minneola and Groveland, but there's nothing special enough about them to post something in this thread (except for the best donuts in central florida). You have towns like Astatula and Howey-in-the-Hills but they're just too small, then you have towns like Okahumpka and Tangerine that have nothing at all but oranges and gas stations.

That seems to be it for my county.

God this was a long post.
Logged
Fed. Pac. Chairman Devin
Devin
Jr. Member
***
Posts: 646
United States


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #10 on: October 28, 2014, 10:26:32 PM »

Asotin, Washington

An oddly shaped,moderately populated, very White, and dry ugly area in the eastern part of the state.

Clarkston-(My home) Population-19,000 (counting unincorporated). Very high drug usage rate, but little violent crime for some reason. My part of town (5th street) is slightly richer,and slightly less White than the rest of the city. There are two high schools,3 elementary schools,a junior high, and a private Catholic school. Downtown around Walmart and Fair street aka "skid row" is where most of the poor people live. It is all section 8,or low income housing. Most of the cities drug addicts,teen parents, and runaways live there. Naturally it tends to be the area where Democrats preform the best. Politically the city as a whole has sort of a populist streak. Most city officials are socially conservative Republicans, but there are some exceptions in posts like city council. Our mayor is probably the most Conservative Woman office holder in the state. Over the last few years she has: Compared Abortionists to Joseph Stalin, said that Sodomy should be a felony, Joked about putting up signs saying "Warning to blacks:Don't be out on the street after 8 p.m." And last but not least, said the bible should be required reading in schools.
Anyway outside of town,before Asotin is where the elite live. Doctors,Lawyers,etc. Asotin it self is the typically conservative small town,but voted for Clinton twice. Out side of that it's mostly empty farm land,and unincorporated towns of less than 100 people.
Logged
Citizen Hats
lol-i-wear-hats
Jr. Member
***
Posts: 680
Canada


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #11 on: October 29, 2014, 12:26:04 AM »

Monterey County, California.  

Monterey County is a reasonably large and diverse county along the northern end of the Central California Coast, with a population of 415,000.  

It's geographically built around the Salinas Valley, and points eastern, a long, fertile valley where much of the United States' lettuce is grown, along with other row-crops, artichokes, and vinyards. The Salinas Valley is home to a chain of cities and towns straddling the old El Camino Real, the largest of which is Salinas. The valley is heavily populated by Mexican-Americans, and is owned by a number of long standing agricultural businesses who employ large amounts semi-transient of farm labor.  The upper valley south of Salinas is quite arid, while the areas north of Salinas are part of the Coastal zone, and frequented by dense marine fogs.  The upper areas of the valley once consisted of great stretches of wetlands and sloughs, which the Spanish called 'tembladeros,' or 'salinas' when they were salty, a remnant of which exists in the Elkhorn Slough Reserve near Moss Landing.

To the west of the Salinas Valley lie the Santa Lucia Mountains, ranging up to 5800 feet, a low range of extremely rugged mountains, sliced through with deep canyon-like valleys, with stands of huge Redwood trees in the deep coastal bottom lands. The coast abutting the mountains is a 90 mile stretch of nearly inaccessible cliffs known as 'Big Sur'. The heights of the mountains are dominated by stands of various local pines, and in some of the less accessible peaks there are stands of rare Sugar Pines and the endemic Santa Lucia Fir. The lower areas are dominated by thick scrubb- the manzanita, greasewood, chamise, and poison oak which grow quickly, and make the exploration of marked trails a highly speculative venture. The eastern slopes and valleys stand with large White, Black, and Blue oaks. The Santa Lucia Mountains are among the least naturally accessible places in the Continental United States, and have long been home to people trying to get away from things.

The North of the County is punctuated by a stretch of low hills, composed ancient wind blown sands, forming very marginal farmland, while the East of the County is shown by a the sumits of the Gabilan and Diablo mountains, ranges of grasslands studded with stands of oak and higher altitude pine.

The region was populated by Ohlone, Salinan, and Esselen speakers before Spanish settlement, with the Ohlone, a language group rather than a polity or ethnicity, stretching from roughly the middle of the County to the Carqinez Strait in the North, and with the Diablo Range of mountains in the east separating them from the peoples of the San Joaquin Valley. The Salinan people lived in the south end of the valley, and the mysterious Esselen people, numbering only hundreds or thousands before contact, lived in along the remote coast and in the more inaccessible mountain valleys until perhaps the 1850s.

The Spanish first explored the area in the late 17th Century, but began to settle the region in the late 18th Century, with the Fort at Monterey (the Presidio) and Mission founded by Father Junipero Serra and the Spanish Army in 1770 as Capital of California. The Mission gathered, by trick and by force, a great many of the regional natives and forcibly converted them to Christianity, a brutal process by which many died, of disease, malnutrition, and violence.  The Mission was eventually moved over the hill from Monterey to the location now known as Carmel, or San Carlos Boromeo del Rio Carmelo, with a number of other missions founded at Soledad and San Antonio.  A few settles entered the region at this time, accepting vast land grants from the Spanish authorities.  After the Mexican Revolution, the government continued to sponsor settlement under the landgrant system. The Mexican government dissolved the missions and redistributed their lands among settlers, leaving the surviving mission-Indians for the most part as landless, invisible laborers.

The region was conquered by the Americans in 1846 when Commodore Sloat attacked Monterey. There was scattered resistance among the Californios, leading to a number of small battles in the region.  After the war, with the Gold Rush re-balancing the economic center of California away from scattered coastal ranches towards San Francisco and the Gold Fields, Monterey was abandoned as Capital, as it was isolated from the new order of the state, and it was surrounded by impassible marshes and mountains.

After the Conquest, Monterey County remained a sleepy corner of the state, dominated by farmers and fishermen.

Salinas  Salinas is a lower-income community of 164,000, founded shortly after the Conquest, and traditional center of agro-business in the Northern Central Coast. It was historically the home of John Steinbeck.  It's built around a small downtown ('Oldtown'), with low-rise sprawl and malls/strip malls and a reasonably sized industrial quarter south of Oldtown.  It struggles with a outsized gang problem and with deep poverty among the Hispanic community, most densely located in the Eastern side of the city.  In the south and North ends of the city there are the home of the middle class  in a stretch of mostly 1960s-1970s suburban developments.  The city is heavily democratic, along with the rest of the county ,but the city's politics are rather of the 'disadvantaged democrat' variety. The City was founded as a little bit of Midwestern farming town, though it is long removed from that.

To the south west of Salinas,  separated by farm lands lies in valley of the Santa Lucias 'Corral del Tierra', which in the last few decades has become the upper class bedroom community of Salinas, dominated by large McMansion type homes the cover the valley floor and stud the hills. This area is probably the closest to having a concentration of Republicans in the County, and they are still outnumbered by Democrats

Monterey is on a peninsula jutting out to the Ocean. As one of the oldest cities on the West Coast it has a bit of interesting history, a few old buildings, but after the conquest it was reduced to a sleepy multicultural fishing port (the multiculturalism of which Salinas was ironically founded to get away from). It was once the home an enormous Sardine fishery, which collapsed after the second world war, famously a subject of John Steinbeck.  The Town remained a fishy, sleepy place, hosting some artists and painters and a well known golf coarse next door in Pebble Beach until a renewal of interest in Steinbeck brought redevelopment to the area.  In the last few decades Monterey and the Peninsula has been the home of a number of extremely wealthy people, attracted to the charming old houses and developments.  Clint Eastwood was famously mayor of neigboring Carmel, which was founded as a artist colony in the early 20th Century, but is now more just affluent greater Monterey.  The town is a bit of a tourist attraction, and the more working class types have largely been pushed out.  The politics of this area are of a very late-Liberal Variety, though a bit stuffier than San Francisco or Santa Cruz. Monterey is also home to a famous aquarium.

To the immediate east of Monterey are Marina and Seaside, which are somewhat more working class than Monterey. Marina is probably the foggiest part of the region, where chill wet winds come off the ocean, shrouding the community in a thick, wet, cold fog often ten degrees colder than Monterey or Salinas.  The area is much poorer than Monterey, though the houses are still more expensive than a lot of the locals can really afford.

North County, including the communities of Castroville, Prunedale, Moss Landing, Pajaro, Las Lomas, and Aromas, to the Border with Santa Cruz County is where I hale.  It's strange level of Density, much of it is somewhat less than suburban but somewhat more than rural- marginal strawberry farms studded between small acreages. Castroville is something of a smaller Salinas, and is characterized by many of the same things. It was founded as a rival, but lost out to the less-swamped in and more central Castroville.

continue again at some point
Logged
Middle-aged Europe
Old Europe
Atlas Icon
*****
Posts: 17,178
Ukraine


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #12 on: October 29, 2014, 07:05:18 AM »
« Edited: October 29, 2014, 08:22:39 AM by Breaking hearts and minds »

Borough of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Berlin

Most densely populated borough of Germany's capital (population density roughly corresponds to that of Brooklyn, NYC), with a total population of 260,000. It's only one of two boroughs in Berlin which consist of parts of both former West Berlin and former East Berlin: Kreuzberg in the southwest and Friedrichshain in the northeast. The Spree river serves as a natural boundary between the two parts, but they're connected by the historic Oberbaum Bridge, which is for that reason included in the coat of arms:

     

There are some significant demographic differences between the two parts of the borough. Kreuzberg is noticably younger and much more ethnically diverse than Friedrichshain, in large parts due to a high number of Turkish immigrants in Kreuzberg. Friedrichshain on the other hand is "whiter" and older. Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg as a whole is considered a major center of (alternative) culture, arts, and nightlife, while at the same time the influx of wealthier citizens via a process of gentrification is transforming the borough's demographics.

In the 2013 Bundestag election, the left-wing parties (Left, SPD, Greens, Pirates) won a combined vote of 77% in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg. Primarily, it is a major stronghold of the Green Party. They're the largest party in the Borough Assembly, the Borough Mayor is from the Greens, five out of the six state parliament districts were won by them in the last state election, and the directly elected member of the Bundestag for the borough is also a Green.

The only major anomaly is the western part of Friedrichshain, where both SPD and Left Party tend to be stronger than the Greens. This is also the least "alternative" area of F-K, meaning it is populated by older East German folk who are more shaped by life in the communist GDR rather than West German counterculture.
Logged
Sol
Junior Chimp
*****
Posts: 8,051
Bosnia and Herzegovina


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #13 on: October 29, 2014, 02:47:59 PM »

My county is Watauga County, NC.



(Ignore the townships. They have zero relevance to anything.)

Watauga is a small county located in NW North Carolina. It is more populous and urban than any other county in the area, yet still is rather rural. It functions as the main center of commerce for most of the High Country.

Boone is the county seat of Watauga County, and is thus both the geographic and population center of the county. It is home to Appalachian State University, which is the county's main employer. ASU's presence has influenced the county in various profound ways; it is the only real base for the county's Democratic population. ASU is a fairly liberal university (sustainable development is a very popular major and it is partially powered by geothermal energy) and it has given Boone a hippy-ish culture. Needless to say, Boone is very strongly democratic, voting for Obama over 60% in 2008.

The Republican margin increases the further one goes away from Boone, in all directions. Democrats are only competitive in precincts which include a sliver of town, or in Todd and Blowing Rock.

Blowing Rock is the next largest town. It generally leans R, on account of being home to affluent, often Floridian, snowbirds who like quaint old towns. Democrats can win here if they do well- they won the Blowing Rock precinct in 2008 by a tiny margin.

There are a wide number of settlements, some of which are incorporated and most of which are not. Seven Devils is a bit like a further extension of Blowing Rock. It is even wealthier and even more conservative, but it has very few residents and so doesn't matter much more than Sugar Grove or Vilas or Aho. Todd is the only area of remote interest from a political perspective, in that it is fairly winnable for the proper Democratic candidate. It has a pretty small population however, including a few hippy types in the necessary concentration to swing it.

Most of the rest of the county is very poor and conservative, with the occasional smattering of wealthy retiree enclaves on mountaintops. Both of these demographics tend very GOP, although the former less so than the latter.

Watauga County is overwhelmingly white. The small black population is concentrated in the historically black neighborhood of Junaluska, while the Latino population is more rural, in part due to the fact that many work in the Christmas Tree industry.

Politics in Watauga County are highly polarized, and more comparable to national politics in terms of party platform rather than the traditional blue-doginess of other places. This is mostly due to the unusual Democratic base (left wing students rather than yellow-dog southrons) and their clashes with the Tea Party local population.

In addition to national issues, development and environmental policy are highly prominent; the local GOP tends to be rather big on non-zoning and large vacation developments like so:


The local democrats object strongly to these on the grounds of environmental preservation, although these attitudes sometimes border on NIMBYism.

Also important is voting rights, mostly due to the wacky hijinks of the GOP-run local board of elections, which has been trying to disenfranchise ASU students in a wide variety of ways, garnering international attention.
Logged
World politics is up Schmitt creek
Nathan
Moderators
Atlas Superstar
*****
Posts: 34,248


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #14 on: October 29, 2014, 03:41:10 PM »

Almost every part of Franklin County is strongly Democratic, it having undergone the same political transformation in the late twentieth century as the rest of Western Massachusetts and Vermont.

The swing towards Democrats in this region is fascinating. Crazy to look at past election results (of both states) compared to now. I've seen that it was due to the in migration of liberals from New York? And does the extreme conservative nature of the Republicans play into that as well?

Yes and yes. First a more left-wing population base started migrating in from New York and Boston, then the original population base became more left-wing as well both because of social influence from their new neighbors and from how far right the Republicans moved.
Logged
CountyTy90
Jr. Member
***
Posts: 324
United States


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #15 on: October 29, 2014, 05:18:41 PM »

The politics of this area are of a very late-Liberal Variety, though a bit stuffier than San Francisco or Santa Cruz.

Visited the are a few years back in July; Monterey County is hands down the most beautiful county I've ever been to (although Mariposa/Tuolumne also in California give it a run for its money). Coming from the boring, land locked flatlands of small town Illinois, Monterey and Carmel were amazingly gorgeous. Definitely my favorite side trip in California. Would go back in a heartbeat.

The same day we went to Monterey/Carmel, we also hit up Santa Cruz, which I thought, seemed very run down and gross, in parts. Why is that? And going through looking at its political history, I was surprised to see it way more Democratic back in the day when neighboring counties like San Mateo and Santa Clara would go Republican, yet, Santa Cruz went Democratic?
Logged
traininthedistance
YaBB God
*****
Posts: 4,547


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #16 on: October 29, 2014, 05:56:16 PM »

Almost every part of Franklin County is strongly Democratic, it having undergone the same political transformation in the late twentieth century as the rest of Western Massachusetts and Vermont.

The swing towards Democrats in this region is fascinating. Crazy to look at past election results (of both states) compared to now. I've seen that it was due to the in migration of liberals from New York? And does the extreme conservative nature of the Republicans play into that as well?

Yes and yes. First a more left-wing population base started migrating in from New York and Boston, then the original population base became more left-wing as well both because of social influence from their new neighbors and from how far right the Republicans moved.

I was always under the impression that, while a lot of NY/Boston folks started vacationing in western MA/VT, the absolute number of people that moved there were actually pretty small, certainly too small to move the partisan needle like it's been moved.  Though the growth of that tourism certainly plays a part as well in terms of changing the attitudes and incentives of the locals.

I wonder if conservatives moving away to other parts of the country plays a part as well?
Logged
Citizen Hats
lol-i-wear-hats
Jr. Member
***
Posts: 680
Canada


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #17 on: October 29, 2014, 06:08:16 PM »

The politics of this area are of a very late-Liberal Variety, though a bit stuffier than San Francisco or Santa Cruz.

Visited the are a few years back in July; Monterey County is hands down the most beautiful county I've ever been to (although Mariposa/Tuolumne also in California give it a run for its money). Coming from the boring, land locked flatlands of small town Illinois, Monterey and Carmel were amazingly gorgeous. Definitely my favorite side trip in California. Would go back in a heartbeat.

The same day we went to Monterey/Carmel, we also hit up Santa Cruz, which I thought, seemed very run down and gross, in parts. Why is that? And going through looking at its political history, I was surprised to see it way more Democratic back in the day when neighboring counties like San Mateo and Santa Clara would go Republican, yet, Santa Cruz went Democratic?

The California Coast is 'traditionally' Republican country.  Santa Cruz is a bit more hippish, sort of San Francisco in miniature. I wouldn't call it dirty, but to each their own. Some say that it's reprutation as a less uptight place started in the 18th Century, and that the Padres would send 'problem' friars to Santa Cruz.

Santa Cruz was a less agricultural place than Monterey County, with only limited farm land in the Pajaro valley and a few plots clinging to the mountain sides. Its industries were much more about logging, mining, and quarying and perhaps that contributed to a lot more Democratic attitude than the grain farmers of Monterey County
Logged
World politics is up Schmitt creek
Nathan
Moderators
Atlas Superstar
*****
Posts: 34,248


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #18 on: October 29, 2014, 06:30:04 PM »

Almost every part of Franklin County is strongly Democratic, it having undergone the same political transformation in the late twentieth century as the rest of Western Massachusetts and Vermont.

The swing towards Democrats in this region is fascinating. Crazy to look at past election results (of both states) compared to now. I've seen that it was due to the in migration of liberals from New York? And does the extreme conservative nature of the Republicans play into that as well?

Yes and yes. First a more left-wing population base started migrating in from New York and Boston, then the original population base became more left-wing as well both because of social influence from their new neighbors and from how far right the Republicans moved.

I was always under the impression that, while a lot of NY/Boston folks started vacationing in western MA/VT, the absolute number of people that moved there were actually pretty small, certainly too small to move the partisan needle like it's been moved.  Though the growth of that tourism certainly plays a part as well in terms of changing the attitudes and incentives of the locals.

The number of transplants since the sixties and seventies could, overall, be characterized as moderate, in that it's neither as large as people who like to credit the region's political transformation solely to their presence present it as nor as small as people who like to credit the region's political transformation solely to entirely local changes or the parties changing their platforms present it as. The idea that people moving from New York and Boston did and to an extent still do provide a left-leaning activist base but that the actual shift in voting patterns occurred primarily because of changing local attitudes in part engendered by increased tourism strikes me as closest to what's really happened in this part of the country over the past half-century. (Of course, once the politics of the area did change, it became even more attractive as a relocation or vacation destination for a lot of people.)

Quote
You must be logged in to read this quote.

That's certainly possible, but I'm less aware of it if so. If it happened or is happening, it's not talked about as much.
Logged
Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck
HockeyDude
Atlas Icon
*****
Posts: 11,376
United States


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #19 on: October 29, 2014, 10:08:20 PM »

1/3 blue collar river towns
1/3 upscale suburbs
1/3 exurban McMansions

New Jersey's bellwether.

Logged
CountyTy90
Jr. Member
***
Posts: 324
United States


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #20 on: October 29, 2014, 11:25:16 PM »

1/3 blue collar river towns
1/3 upscale suburbs
1/3 exurban McMansions

New Jersey's bellwether.



Bergen
Logged
Flake
Flo
Junior Chimp
*****
Posts: 8,688
United States


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #21 on: October 30, 2014, 03:30:37 AM »

1/3 blue collar river towns
1/3 upscale suburbs
1/3 exurban McMansions

New Jersey's bellwether.



Bergen

No, it's definitely Burlington.
Logged
Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck
HockeyDude
Atlas Icon
*****
Posts: 11,376
United States


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #22 on: October 30, 2014, 08:57:50 AM »

1/3 blue collar river towns
1/3 upscale suburbs
1/3 exurban McMansions

New Jersey's bellwether.



Bergen

No, it's definitely Burlington.

^ Flo's got it right.
Logged
Cranberry
TheCranberry
YaBB God
*****
Posts: 4,501
Austria


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #23 on: October 30, 2014, 01:22:25 PM »

My "county" is Bezirk Imst ("Imst district") in the Austrian federal state of Tirol.



Its county seat is the city of Imst, with approx. 10'000 inhabitants, and it has about 20 municipalities with populations from 1'000-5'000. Located in a very mountainous region, the district spans a part of the main valley of Tirol, the Inntal valley (after the river 'Inn'); as well as three of his tributary rivers, the Ötztal, Pitztal and Gurgltal valleys ("Tal" means valley in German, in case you didn't notice Wink) and a high-plateau, the Mieminger Plateau. The district has an area of about 2'000 sqkm (700 sqmls) and a population of about 60'000.

The district is a very touristy area, especially in the tributary valleys; and there is only little industry, mainly in Imst. There are still quite a few people living at smaller farms, together with having another job, eg in the tourism branch; but there is a tendency of either specialising (mainly producing fruits or vegetables, the climate is too cold to produce crops in large numbers) and producing this product on a large scale, or giving up ones farm. The service sector outside of the tourism branch is underdeveloped, and many people commute to the nearby capital of Tirol, Innsbruck, which is from 20 minutes to 40 minutes along the Inntal valley away. People in the tributary valleys however nearly exclusively work in the tourism sector, mainly with owning hotels or pensions themselves (the staff usually is from Eastern Germany or Eastern Europe), but also in all fields somehow related with tourism; including shops, restaurants but also law and accounting fields (my mum works in a accounting firm, and up to 70% of their clients are pensions or hotels or shops or whatever in tourism villages). The tourism sector itself is based on ski-tourism in the winter and hiking in the summer, so between the seasons, nothing is going on in the tourism villages.

Politically, the district is as "black" (the color associated with the main conservative party in Austria, the ÖVP) as can be, the ÖVP regularly scores one of their best results in the district. In the 2013 election, just a single municipality (the one I live in - Rietz) did not vote for the ÖVP. However, the dominance of the ÖVP is at retreat. While they scored Mississippi-like results in the First Republic (1919-1933/38) and still 60+ results throughout much of the 50ies, 60ies and 70ies; they have now been reduced to 37% in the federal election of 2013 (compared to 32% in Tirol and 24% in Austria) . Their gap has been largely filled by the FPÖ, even though the district has comparably a low share of immigrants (season workers don't count, as they don't live here), and to some extent also by Greens and NEOS, but still, they are weak as the district is very rural.
Logged
Tender Branson
Mark Warner 08
Atlas Institution
*****
Posts: 58,173
Austria


Political Matrix
E: -6.06, S: -4.84

Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #24 on: October 30, 2014, 02:14:53 PM »

District of Zell am See (located in the Austrian state of Salzburg) - also known as the "Pinzgau"Sad





Area: 2.642 km²

Population: 85.000

Population growth: about 0.2-0.5% each year (big birth surplus, big domestic outmigration, some international immigration surplus)

Density: 32/km²

Highest Mountain: 3.674 meters (Großvenediger)

Percentage of foreigners: 11.2% (4% former Yugoslavs, 3% Germans, 2% "other EU + Switzerland and Norway", 1% Turks, 1% "non-EU")

Age structure: 0-14 years: 15%, 15-64 years: 68%, 65+ years: 17%

Employment percentage: 75.5% of the total population

Capital: Zell am See (10.000 inhabitants)

Largest City: Saalfelden (17.000 inhabitants)

GDP/capita: 34.500€

...

Elections:

2013 Federal Election

27.1% ÖVP (Christian Conservatives) - Austria: 24.0%
27.0% SPÖ (Social Democrats) - Austria: 26.8%
23.1% FPÖ (Far Right Nationalists) - Austria: 20.5%
10.0% Greens (Left Wing Ecologists) - Austria: 12.4%
  5.8% TS (Business-oriented troll party) - Austria: 5.7%
  3.4% NEOS (Liberal Progressive, Business-oriented) - Austria: 5.0%
  2.7% BZÖ (Right-liberal) - Austria: 3.5%
  0.6% Pirates (Internet-oriented, progressive) - Austria: 0.8%
  0.3% Communists (Far Left) - Austria: 1.0%

Turnout: 75.2% - Austria: 74.9%

...

2013 Military Draft Referendum:

59% keep the draft
41% abolish the draft (highest percentage to abolish the draft in any Western Austrian district)

...

2013 State Election:

28.9% ÖVP
26.6% SPÖ
20.3% FPÖ
13.9% Greens
  9.1% TS
  1.4% Pirates

...

2010 President:

78.9% Fischer (SPÖ) - Austria: 79.3%
15.8% Rosenkranz (FPÖ) - Austria: 15.2%
  5.3% Gehring (CPÖ) - Austria: 5.4%


...

Landscape:


Logged
Pages: [1] 2  
« previous next »
Jump to:  


Login with username, password and session length

Terms of Service - DMCA Agent and Policy - Privacy Policy and Cookies

Powered by SMF 1.1.21 | SMF © 2015, Simple Machines

Page created in 0.171 seconds with 11 queries.