Denver! The Perth of America

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by 202_Cyclist

Are there any Siberian cities that are more isolated than Perth? I don't know the geography of Russia well enough.

Not really in the same size class. Yakutsk, Norilsk and Petropavlovsk Kamchatsky are medium size (~150-250 k people) cities that are quite isolated, especially Petropavlovsk (which has no land connections to anywhere of note), but much smaller than Perth.

Larger Siberian cities are not particularly close to each other, but also not all that far (and some are closer to large cities in China).

[mhays]

I'm not sure the map-maker knows where all those cities are.

[Obadno]

Originally Posted by edale

Yeah, but Tuscon isn't really a major city. It's similar to Colorado Springs being close to Denver. Sure, it's there, but it's not a major city. I guess I'm thinking of cities with professional sports as a barometer for what constitutes a major city.

What do you consider a major city because Tucson Metro is 1 million people as of 2020

[Obadno]

Originally Posted by bobdreamz

"los Angeles"

[Obadno]

Originally Posted by Cirrus

There's a clear cluster of Southern California plus Vegas plus Arizona. You could say that cluster is isolated from other clusters, but I have a real hard time describing any of the components as especially isolated.

Iva always gelt like if Texas Triangle and Southern Florida could be a viable HSR region so could the Quad metros of LA, San Diego, Phoenix, Tucson. HSR in a loop connecting them all and the distance and flats for most of the distance and flats in the deserts between the Arizona cities and California cities could be a great spot for really really fast trains.

[edale]

Originally Posted by Obadno

What do you consider a major city because Tucson Metro is 1 million people as of 2020

I literally answered that in the post of mine you quoted lol

The nighttime aerial pretty clearly supports my feeling of pretty much the whole west being isolated. It's just a much, much more sparsely populated part of the country than the east, and there are vast areas of nothingness between the cities. Pretty uncontroversial statement, I think.

[Wigs]

Re: that light map
*sung in the voice of Alicia Keys*

"Now you're in New Yok!
These streets will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you
Hear it for New Yok, New Yok, New Yok!"

[Quixote]

Originally Posted by pdxtex

Seattle almost seems like more of a outpost of Asia than a city of America. It's proximity to Vancouver and the sound, plus a high Asian population make it stand to me.

Seattle’s still comfortably majority (generic) white American. I’m not sure what you’re getting at with proximity to Vancouver. Are you trying to say that it’s a “Pacific Rim” city with less ties to points farther east?

[mhays]

I imagine he means "more Asian than Portland."

[Steely Dan]

Which group of cities would you say Seattle is more like?


Group A:

Los Angeles
San Francisco
Portland
Denver
Minneapolis


Or


Group B:

Seoul
Tokyo
Beijing
Hong Kong
Taipei

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by bobdreamz

The Los Angeles Bay of San Francisco!

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Which group of cities would you say Seattle is more like?


Group A:

Los Angeles
San Francisco
Portland
Denver
Minneapolis


Or


Group B:

Seoul
Tokyo
Beijing
Hong Kong
Taipei

Definitely Group A. It's also not that Asian so I'm surprised pdxtex said that.

Even in the Bay Area, I wouldn't say it feels like an outpost of Asia demographically. Even with Alameda and Santa Clara counties being plurality Asian, there's still a lot of whites and Hispanics. The only major metro that comes close is Honolulu I think. It's 54.8% Asian, and then you combine that with a high number of Japanese tourists.

[dave8721]

Originally Posted by homebucket

The Los Angeles Bay of San Francisco!

And Toronto. Ehh....its up there in Canada somewhere. Lets put it here (Montreal).

[pdxtex]

Originally Posted by Quixote

Seattle’s still comfortably majority (generic) white American. I’m not sure what you’re getting at with proximity to Vancouver. Are you trying to say that it’s a “Pacific Rim” city with less ties to points farther east?

Yes correct. To me, Seattle has more commercial synergy with Vancouver and Asian markets because of Puget Sound than it does with the rest of America. I mean those goods do get shipped east on trains but they arrive in port first. Also the large Asian population probably help this perception. If the cascades broke off from America we'd probably be able to be self sufficient.

[pdxtex]

Originally Posted by AviationGuy

I'm not really sure why this discussion is important. The expression "it is what it is" comes to mind.

In most of these places, when you're there, the last thing you think of is "wow this is isolated", especially when you're sitting in gridlocked traffic, crowded restaurants and theaters, etc.

Probably because covid really ramped up proximity awareness. Proximity to culture, relatives, new places. It gave us the opportunity to work elsewhere as well. My perception of Portland was we were at the end of the earth. I suppose other places shut down and had some similar problems but had I been in Philadelphia or Los Angeles, I think my perception of the covid events would have been completely different. Bigger population base, less economic catastrophe.

[edale]

Originally Posted by pdxtex

Yes correct. To me, Seattle has more commercial synergy with Vancouver and Asian markets because of Puget Sound than it does with the rest of America. I mean those goods do get shipped east on trains but they arrive in port first. Also the large Asian population probably help this perception. If the cascades broke off from America we'd probably be able to be self sufficient.

I always roll my eyes when I see claims like this. The Sea-Tac area is home to a huge amount of military bases and businesses that are located there due to the military. And if Seattle was to break off from America, do you really think Amazon and Microsoft and the like would stay there? All that federal funding that has bankrolled transit and other infrastructure projects would vanish, and do you think this new country would have even a fraction of the ability to fund such things? There's an arrogance to proclaiming California could break off from the US and be just fine. Making the same claim about Portland and Seattle is veering into delusion, imo.

[xzmattzx]

Originally Posted by Obadno

"los Angeles"

And "Toronto"

[pdxtex]

The military spent 19 billion dollars in Washington state last year and the GDP was 725 billion. Remove federal spending and the economy would be fine. My greater point was the PNW has a varied economy and we can grow our own food. Lots of states could do that too.

[202_Cyclist]

Originally Posted by bobdreamz

Looks pretty isolated to me !

Salt Lake City is almost as isolated as Denver-- it is an 8 1/2 hour drive from Denver (nearly the distance of Denver - Kansas City). It is a five hour drive to Boise, 7 1/2 hours to Reno, and 6 1/2 to Las Vegas.

Once you drive west from Salt Lake City, the area in northern Nevada on I-80 is like driving on the moon. I think that is some of the most isolated sections of North America.

[James Bond Agent 007]

I see so many Colorado license plates (no doubt most from the Denver area) in KC that I hardly consider Denver to be isolated. If that many people can drive to KC from Denver it must not be that big a deal to drive that distance.