Quote:
Originally Posted by mrjanejacobs
I don't think so - the borough term is actually really common and used in a lot of City's, not just New York.
I am certain Newfoundlanders would never accept a street-naming system of numbering. haha
I think Architype is right about the ambiguity of community for administrative purposes. But boroughs are also known to be a lot larger than communities (more like a ward). "Ward" sounds like shit. haha Borough perhaps would be good for administrative 'wards'.
However, I think 'communities' are really important and we should more often support these kinds of organizations. For instance, we want to give residents of a certain area an identity - a "place" to identify with. Think about Georgestown or Pleasentville or Goulds or Kilbride, Quidi Vidi etc. These areas have really concise place-identity connections. Yes, they are historic - but that doesn't mean new places can't be similarly labeled for the sake of community-building.
CBS is the result of an amalgamation of 9 communities. They are oversized now, but some have pretty charming names that I would be happy to identify with - like "Greeleytown", "Peachytown", a new emerging name, "Cherrytown". If we can organize these communities with a volunteer government organization then we can begin much more sustainable planning at the community and neighbourhood scale.
I think being able to identify with a community is important for the sake of belonging to a place and larger community on the whole.  |
A page out of one of Ms. Jacobs' book if I've ever seen one.
I am pro amalgamation, simply because the current growth in the city, and the direction that the Avalon is heading, is unsustainable at its current rate. So much sprawl is capable of occurring because the communities are working against each other instead of WITH each other. If something is proposed, and one community doesn't want it, you can just build it somewhere else. The community that shut it down loses all the potential revenue generated from the project. They won't be so quick to shut the next one down.
Meanwhile, St. John's is getting screwed because the majority of folks in all the communities in the area cart themselves into the city for work. St. John's services are stressed, and so St. John's taxes are high. Amalgamation would undoubtedly raise the taxes in places like Paradise and LBMCOC... but rightfully so, in my opinion. Hopefully, taxes in the city would FALL themselves. Once everyone is contributing to the pot they are drawing from, the amalgamated area can develop a strategy to integrate services.
There are challenges, and much would need to be negotiated, but as a developer, I truly feel that each region is making it harder on themselves by insisting that they operate independently. Its great for developers though. So it depends how you slice it.