Describe Your County

[Citizen Hats]

MONTERY II

Moss Landing is a small port, home to a fishing fleet, an esturine reserve, and a marine research institute.  Moss Landing was founded in the late 19th Century on a narrow barrier-dune of land saperating the Salinas River, which then flowed into the Bay several miles north of where it presently stops, and the sea.  At one time, Moss Landing was the site of a wharf connected the narrow guage Pajaro Valley Consolidated Railway, which carried grain and passengers between Salinas, Watsonville, and Moss Landing, providing an alternate route to farmers to the monopolistic Southern Pacific Railway.  The river eventually shifted south, but the remaining estuary was opened by the into a harbor in 1949.

Pajaro sits at the north end of the County, effectively part of Watsonville in Santa Cruz county across the Pajaro River, sitting as it's poorer and less residential cousin.  The southern half of the Pajaro Valley sits just north of a range of hills in which are several towns and town-ish areas. 

The hills in the North end of the county are infertile, and only marginal strawberry farmers make use of them. In the early days of the state the area was only settled by  a thin dusting of small farmers and ranchers, but in the 1930s, the area was settled by 'Oakies', of which there are still many, giving a somewhat highland southern flair to the rural population, replete with the occasional y'all and confederate flag. Overlaid upon that substratum are several waves of new comers. Prunedale is at the outer edge of the San Francisco Bay commuter-shed, and has been since the late 1980s, with a number of locals making the 50 minute - 1 hour drive into San Jose every morning. This, along with the educational and research institutes in the region, gives the otherwise somewhat yokel-ish town a educated bit. Along with that is the increasing Mexican-American population found in much of the country.  Otherwise, there is the poverty-stricken community of Las Lomas, and the small town of Aromas, which constitutes the areas a rather atypical 'small town' for an area of acreages interspersed with the occasional strip mall.

South of the Monterey Penninsula lies Big Sur, a once isolated community only connected reliably to the rest of the country in the 1930s by road.  Big Sur is both a town down the coast, in a narrow redwood valley, and a name given to the 90 mile stretch of coastline south of Malpaso Creek and north of San Carpoforo Creek, which is also the southern-most extent of the Redwood tree.  There are a few place-names along the coast - Lucia, Post, El Sur, though there are many fewer people there than there were a hundred years ago. The economy of the area is essentially tourist, supporting a few camp grounds, impenetrably over grown hiking trails, and a few restaurants and retreats in Big Sur proper, driven by the striking scenery and remote location. In the 1960s, the area was discovered by hippies, who lent a somewhat countercultural flair to the area which continues to this day. 

South of Salinas lies the great southern extent of the county, with small towns studded down the Salinas valley, low population, agriculture and mountains.  The small towns are almost exclusively Hispanic, outside the occasional housing development. The rural areas are home to some of the old republican types who used to be the main population of the county- farmers, vinters, ranchers. In some of the gulches running up from the valley floor there still exist isolated farmhouses and old wind-pumps, studded with the occaional eucalyptus tree marking a planting.  The area gives a sense of what 'old' California once was. 

Set in a Valley to the west of the Salinas, engulfed in the Santa Lucia Mountains, is Fort Hunter Ligget, a US Army facility used for training.  The existence of the Fort, and the Hacienda once owned by William Randolph Hearst which preceded it, has spared an enormous valley area studded with enormous oak trees, of the sort which once dominated all of the valleys of California. 

[muon2]

Welcome to the Northwest Indiana tour!

- The Region, as it is locally known, coincides with Lake County from the depressing shores of Lake     Michigan to the automobile-ensnaring U.S. Route 30, and can be described as "Industrial Wasteland meets Suburban Hell" at its very base.

- On your left you will see tall buildings! To your right, there are cornfields!

- Here in Northwest Indiana, we have 4 distinct seasons:

1.) Why is it so cold
2.) Potholes
3.) Construction
and finally:
4.) Oh God it's getting cold again

This concludes the tour.

Further Readings:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=The+Region
https://twitter.com/RegionRatRants
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Region%20Rat
http://www.nwitimes.com/
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=gary%2C+indiana
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Munster%2C+Indiana

And the largest city of da Region is named after a person born in my town (not Wheaton as Wikipedia might suggest).

[Sol]

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.

I despise NIMBYs, but, Christ, that looks nothing short of Soviet.

The best part is that it's on top of a huge mountain, so it really uglifies things (not good for the tourism-oriented economy). There are others too:


My favorite of these eyesores is this now-demolished particular house, which was visible nearly everywhere in town. It has an interesting history, to say the least.


Anyway, it isn't even like it's necessary to build in such a way on top of mountains. Howard's Knob, which rises on the north side of town, is largely inhabited on the not-too steep parts, and aside from a handful of mansions, in not such an overt way. The only reason to build that way is to get a fancy view for some rich person who'll only live in Watauga County for half the year anyway.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

And the largest city of da Region is named after a person born in my town (not Wheaton as Wikipedia might suggest).

I regret to inform you that since Gary's population has declined so dramatically, it has fallen below Hammond in terms of population as of the 2010 Census

[muon2]

And the largest city of da Region is named after a person born in my town (not Wheaton as Wikipedia might suggest).

I regret to inform you that since Gary's population has declined so dramatically, it has fallen below Hammond in terms of population as of the 2010 Census

, though I could have meant largest area.

[jimrtex]

And the largest city of da Region is named after a person born in my town (not Wheaton as Wikipedia might suggest).

6 degrees of separation:

Gerrymander -> Elbridge Gerry -> Elbert Gary -> West Chicago -> Muon -> Anti-gerrymander.

[New_Conservative]

Bristol County, Massachusetts

Bristol County is a strange county, but is generally a suburban county. There are 4 major population centers, with the largest population center being New Bedford. New Bedford and Fall River suffer from high unemployment, corruption, and relatively high crime rates. The towns surrounding Fall River and New Bedford are left-leaning suburbs (Swansea, Somerset, Westport and Dartmouth), while the rest of the county often leans Republican. Even Taunton and Attleboro vote relatively Republican for an urban area. Fall River and New Bedford are extremely liberal, little less than Boston but more than Lowell.

The county is beautiful. A 5 minute drive can bring you to the beautiful beaches in Westport, to some of the best Portuguese cuisine in the county, and to a rural farming area. The county is probably the most Portuguese in the nation, and is a part of the Providence-Fall River-New Bedford metro area. All of the towns seem to be named after towns in the United Kingdom, thanks to the European settlements in the 1600s and 1700s. The county is 90% white, 2% African-American. The average annual income is around $43,000. It is probably one of the poorest areas of the state. The suburbs are relatively fine (Many towns are very affluent), but the urban struggles of Fall River and New Bedford are very evident, since the job market is not strong in the region.