What is rural? Suburban? Urban? Front Page DailyKos story asks...

[Soundpolitic]

A recommended diary on DailyKos today is meant mainly to poll the community as to which area they live in. Within it is a wealth of information and links that attempt to ask "What Is Rural?"

Read the story and check the links.

From what I got out of it, Albany County is an anomoly. It contains, as we well know, the beautiful and decidedly rural Helderberg Hilltowns. Yet within Albany County's borders, there is a major city and enough suburban development to be considered just one class below completely urbanized. In a sense, this proves to two things to me: first, the level of diversity in land usage and population we have in Albany County...and second, the biggest challenge we may face up in these hills is the presumption of being in a statistically metropolitan area.

I'll be checking out more of the links when I get home; hope you do too!

[Soundpolitic]

I've got more "what is rural?" links, as promised. They are both from the US Dept. of Agriculture. Any of the links followed in the above-mentioned story leads to pages with more links and more links. Here's two that seek to directly answer the question of what is rural:

ERS/USDA Briefing Room - Measuring Rurality: What Is Rural?

Rural Information Center: What Is Rural? - Federal Agencies Define ...

The top link contains interesting links to the census bureaus new Rural-Urban Continuum Codes, and the bottom one has over 50 links to various studies that seek to define "rural." A quick skim, and you'll discover that the census bureau even names Schoharie County as "Metropolitan" when they define things on a county-by-county basis.

I repeat: the Federal Government classifies SCHOHARIE COUNTY as METROPOLITAN. I hope movements for citizens to define what rural really means ends up trumping bureaucratic definitions made in Washington.

Speaking of Washington, Washington State University in Seattle report on the new Census classification of RUCAs, or Rural Urban Commuting Areas on another website with an addition wealth of links. Below is their homepage. Hope this helps!

UW RHRC Rural Urban Communitng Area Codes - RUCA

[Lateral Exploration]

Thanks, those links provide awesome insight into how areas are defined by the gov'ts and organizations. What i don't understand is why they're trying to put diverse townships under one label in the first place. It's impossible to do, especially with an area such as Albany County. Hell, even the town of Guilderland..

Schoharie County Metropolitan? How?

It's retardation such as this that makes me want to avoid the bureaucracy of the Government when trying to find ways to solve the issues that plague our world. I'm a strong proponent of the power of the individual and the community acting independently of the "official".

I guess it doesn't matter how the govn't labels a piece of land...as long as the people of the community continue to tell themesleves the story of the land that rings true. It's those stories that define it, and define how it's treated. (i think that's also why the history of each area is so important, for ex. the anti-rent wars :)

Luckily the bureaucratic labels don't become a part of most stories otherwise Schoharie might start paving over the valley's fertile soil.

Some food for thought..Below's a link on Land Stewardships

http://www.highlandssanctuary.org/LandStewards/LandStewards.htm

[Soundpolitic]

I can understand why diverse areas fall under one area of legal/political jurisdiction. Usually, it's because change has happened in the past. We place fifty states under the moniker "The United States of America" after all.

What needs to be remembered is that whenever we refer to the government or the bureaucracy, we are referring to ourselves. Taking responsibility isn't as easy as placing blame, but there's no comparison to the difference in the results of either path.

Schoharie County is counted as part of the Albany-Schenectady-Troy metropolitan area as part of the Census Bureau's statistics taken every ten years because of its proximity to a major urban center. That's why I'd like to see the government make stronger use of the Rural Urban Commuting Areas; for the purposes of directing policies, it will be very useful to look into what areas must maintain their rural character while maintaining a healthy connection to our existing urban areas.

When you get down to local zoning boards is when government labels on the land really start to matter. Once farmland is zoned as "mixed use," the door is opened for developers to cover up those stories you talked about.

Like the Land Stewardship idea...not sure how that plays into the state's Real Property Law, but I'll keep in mind and do some research once finals are over. Good food for thought!

[Lateral Exploration]

Ahh, much truth

"What needs to be remembered is that whenever we refer to the government or the bureaucracy, we are referring to ourselves."

Such a simple but profound statement. To be honest, myself, and alot of people i'm surrounded by, forget that we are referring to ourselves when we rant about the govn't and its bureaucracy....in the 2004 presidential election only 56% of the voting age population had a say...And that was a good turnout...

We (a majority of the citizens of this country) just don't participate or care. Somewhere along the line a major disconnect has occurred. We are no longer a part of our countries, counties and in some cases even our communities. Instead we have become our own nomadic islands. And it's because of this we have this that our governments have put such ridiculous labels in place. Theirs been a lack of communication or thought towards long term goals and desires. Luckily we're in the depths of it now.

Keep me updated on what actions needed to preserve the rural nature, i like the idea of Rural Urban Commuting Areas and anything needed to eliminate "mixed use" from expanding.

Best of Luck on Finals!

On a side note some continually nagging questions... why is their such ignorance, is their anything that can be done to help flip this mass ignorance and if not, how can those in the minority help to override the current state of affairs.

[White Daisy.]

mmmm...

up until a few months ago i was convinced this system was silly. my thoughts were, why vote? what effect will it have? all you're doing is choosing the lesser douchebag. I was convinced there needed to be a radical change...revolution... upheaval...chaos!!

but once i started learning more about this 'system' of ours my perspective flipflopped. it's not the 'system' that's silly, it's the people in it who are.. me, you, and every other american who enjoys bad mouthing without the care, or awareness of the extensive democratic effort that takes into account all our needs and desires before a law is enacted, or judicial decision is set forth - and yes, sometimes the result sucks but that's b/c this is a diverse nation whose citizen's need and desires vary drastically.

the system is masterful. it began with a revolutionary group of people, who fought oppression, and cultivated a democracy that would counter every pitfall of a dictatorship. we take for granted, that we truly live in the land opportunity, and the only thing ever holding us back is our own inertia.

so why the disconnect? we don't participate b/c we think nothing we do will have an effect... but rome wasn't built in a day. thomas jefferson proposed that the constitution be rewritten every 19 years - essentially every generation. He believed this would invoke participation and concern for governmental affairs - furthermore that values change and past generations have no monopoly on wisdom. i think this would certainly get the ball rolling, on shifting today's mass ignorance...

Jefferson's idea was radical and slightly unrealistic though - Congress has been debating about health care for 16 years - attempting to create an entirely new constitution would be utterly impossible. But regardless, participation is simple. it happens in micro steps - on base levels... first as an individual choice ...then amongst family, friends, towns, counties, etc..

and as much as i'd prefer not to admit, i think it's ultimately about letting go of the notion that something buckwild Radical has to happen, NoW to know that what you did matters. instead, believe that America's base concepts are pretty awesome, and then find a way that suits you best to make those concepts a reality. the time to complain has past - it was never here to begin with. get uPP