Posted on 06/22/2007 12:18:28 AM PDT by Lorianne
While it is true that Newark occassionally elected “progressive” Republican mayors until the early 1950s, the East Ward (where my father is from) has been a den of corrupt ethnic politics since the 19th century. Its the nabe that gave us Hugh Addonizzio (remember who ran Newark in the 1950s-1970? Mayor Addonizzio’s Friends In Action!), and, more recently, James croney Augie Amador.
As long as we continue to outsource jobs and manufacturing, we are going to have these problems.
Interesting. I'm not an upstate NY'er or anything.....I live in NC......but the last time I was in Buffalo was a little over 7 years ago. What I saw was a very pretty, obviously upgraded downtown that was damned near totally empty.
It was downright eerie.
All these buildings.....clean.......neat.......obvious that a lot of time and money had been expended to clean up the city center, etc.....and just no one around. It was like walking around a ghost town.
“I’m curious to see how NYC ends up in the Geologic record.”
Stephen Vincent Benet made a guess in 1937 - “By the Waters of Babylon”
http://www.snian.com/crazyray/wikinotes/english/shortstories/babylon.htm
True, and of course, James isn’t entirely gone, still keeping his little Senate seat, too. Only in New Jersey will a major city Mayor be allowed to serve simultaneously in the legislature. When are they ever going to outlaw that sort of double-dipping ?
I was looking up, too, that Peter Rodino’s predecessor was the great Republican Fred Hartley (of Taft-Hartley), although he was from Kearny. How’s Kearny doing these days ? Only got to see bits and pieces of it from Sopranos eps.
Sounds like Buffalo needs residents downtown. They can spend all that money spiffing up the place, but without downtown residents, the place will be dead after 5 or 6pm.
Nice way to direct people to a neo-Nazi white nationalist site without volunteering the url. I have a feeling that links to that site aren't really appreciated here.
Add Buffalo and Niagara falls, NY to the list. If it wasn’t for the Seneca Indians (casinos) and the government offices there would be nothing there there.
Population lost since 1930 - greatest loss since 1950 or so: over 50%
Buffalo’s past glory
It's believed that Moenjodaro had already fallen into economic decline when an invading army attacked, delivering the sudden fatal blow. Moenjodaro never rose again, and the Indus Valley civilization that it dominated soon disappeared too.Mohenjo-Daro suffered from a two-fold problem of too much success with too little change. By the time the Aryans fell upon the Indus Valley, its people had already abandoned the cities. While the proximate cause was some geological/climate change, the real cause of the Indus Valley disappearance was its own incredible stability.
This civilization had so carefully controlled its own ecological and human environment that when an unexpected variable arrived it could not adapt. Order is an admirable trait of civilization; too much order is not. If this view of the Indus Valley is correct (Mohenjo-Daro being one of its largest cities), it really was early communism. Centralization and enforced sameness yielded excellent results for a time. (Same thing in ancient Egypt). Like the Soviet Union and the Old Kingdom of Egypt, the Indus Valley Civilization died of its own success.**
Whatever lesson the Forbes Mag author wishes to impart regarding Mohenjo-Daro, it ought to be built around the value for cities and civilizations of innovation, change, and adaptability.
Those who can move win.
= = = = = = =
** An alternate view of the Indus Valley is that it was an incredibly innovative society. Its ability to control an unruly river and climate was unique (being one of only four early civilizations), and the depth and breadth of its trade systems is stunning. Perhaps the climate catostrophes of 2400 BC hit Indus too -- in which case we can imagine that the Indus peoples managed it better than others, pushing through it for a few more hundred years, until around 1900 b.c. when their cities were abandoned.
Syracuse NY has gone from being a beautiful metropolitan area with all kinds of industry to a hollow shell of itself. Jobs are fast disappearing, the downtown will never be the same (had beautiful department stores back in the 50’s and they’re all gone). Too bad...
In the U.S., towns in Kansas and the Dakotas face extinction mainly because of an exodus of young people.
There's something inconsistent about this. How many "young people" end up moving to larger cities (like SF and NY)? Something is rather amiss with these two statements.
Rising sea levels threaten cities around the world
I see someone at Forbes watched "An Inconvenient Truth" a few times too many.
Well that was kind of interesting until they went off on the “rising oceans threaten quaint third-world city” line.
Sad. The Cadillac Clark Street facility is one of the lost landmarks that is not listed in the "Industrial ruins" section. I used to work across the street at the Scotten Vehicle Engineering facility. Walking through the abandoned assembly plant was spooky even in broad daylight. I can imagine a good novel or horror movie set there.
Here is the “Fabulous ruins of Detroit” site:
What does this have to do with some neo nazis?
At one time, Kearny was one of the most Scottish towns in the US. There are still two Chippers and three Scottish pubs in town, although you hear alot more Portuguese than Gaelic, especially in the southern part fo twon.
That is not the site to which I am referring.
I didn’t know that about Kearny. My earliest Scottish ancestors in America came through North Carolina around 1800 (the last, my grandfather, settled in NYC in the 1920s). My ancestors that settled in New Jersey were all Germans, the earliest was not a settler per se, but part of the force of Prussian mercenaries hired by the Crown to keep the colonies in line. He’s darn lucky he survived when he did decide to stay (I’m not quite clear where he eventually settled, but I think it was in the vicinity of Burlington, where I had my Grand Aunts, likely his GG granddaughters, living as recently as the past 20 years). Burlington is also where my Grandmother & Scottish Grandfather are buried.
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