Getting Out the Map

[dgriffin]

From WKTV News:

Getting Out the Vote

UTICA, N.Y. (WKTV) - The League of Women Voters and the NAACP joined forces today to get people to the polls in November. They set up shop on James street in East Utica to educate the community about the political issues and encourage them to register for November's Election.

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But James St. isn't in East Utica. It's in Cornhill, unless they moved it since I lived there as a kid. Is it that the local TV News function doesn't know the geography of the city in which they're trying to sell advertising? Is this the KTV Kid again?

[WestmoGuy]

Dave, I'd say some of James Street would be in East Utica.

Say past Madison Ave up to MVCC I believe

[Clipper]

I don't know for sure but I think Corn Hill ends at Mohawk St. But I imagine that the voter drives are happening in the commercial district from like Brinkerfhoff or Taylor Ave to Oneida St. It is logical that the voter registration drive would not be necessary in the more affluent neighborhood around MVCC.

It is usually the poor that are sick of voting and not getting anything from the process that find it futile and don't bother to vote. Of course some of those folks may not realize that they have a Tanoury Jr on the board of legislators now, fighting for their needs.

[dgriffin]

Hi, WestMo. You could be right. Although I wouldn't have called James St. past Gibson Rd. "east Utica." Not in my day, at least. I think I can guess the response if I knocked on a door on Madison Ave and asked the owner, "Is this East Utica?" And I don't think that end of James St. was where the League of Women Voters and the NAACP set up shop to encourage voters to register for the coming election. What I DO think is either WKTV doesn't know their geography or they are (for some reason) purposely not using the name "Cornhill."
Why, I can't imagine.

[kim]

One of my very good friends used to live on the corner of James and Dudley. It was always interesting visiting him at night. We'd sit on the 2nd floor porch and just watch the happenings. I never walked from my car to his house...I ran. Rather scary place! Anyway, we certainly called that area Cornhill, but Westmo is right...MVCC is in East Utica, and James Street does go to MVCC, so I guess it can be both in Cornhill AND East Utica.

[dgriffin]

Clip, just saw your post. The reason I get all riled up over these news nits is because I'm from an era where we took reporting accuracy VERY seriously. And typos, too. My dad (who worked for the OD) scanned every line of the OD each night that he hadn't had a chance to peruse during the day at work, looking for typos and impression problems (he was a pressman.) He would really get upset if a new reporter from out of town (a rarity) misspelled a city street name, but that was partly because he had also been a UFD fireman and could tell you the location of every single street and tiny alley in Utica, even if it didn't have a name. And so could I by age 12. It was a game we played.
And later in my career, some of which involved working with the press, I can tell you that accuracy mattered ... evidently, a hell of a lot more than today. I would be extremely embarrassed if I were to release a story with a misspelling or a wrongly named section of the city.

[dgriffin]

Sept 21, 2008 19:17:28 GMT -5 kim said:

]b]One of my very good friends used to live on the corner of James and Dudley. It was always interesting visiting him at night. We'd sit on the 2nd floor porch and just watch the happenings.

[/b][/quote]

When I was growing up just around the corner from there, you could walk naked down James St. without fear of being molested, although I never tried it. Honest.

[wilum47]

;DLet me Expertly jump in on the East Utica vs Cornhill. ;D

Yes, many consider Mohawk St as the boundary to East Utica. BUT the original boundary is Conkling Ave/Third Ave and that was the line, also, for whether you went to Proctor or UFA. I was on the UFA side of Conkling but since I lived on the street I thankfully had my choice and headed to Proctor where I didn't need a map to find my classroom. ;D Just kiddin'

Every Utica native knows a street going North and South is an Avenue and East and West is Street. Pet peeve of mine.

[wilum47]

Dave! Where did you find my picture at St Mary's?

[kim]

Sept 21, 2008 19:24:39 GMT -5 @dgriffin said:

When I was growing up just around the corner from there, you could walk naked down James St. without fear of being molested, although I never tried it. Honest.

What a visual I have now!

[kim]

Sept 21, 2008 19:36:17 GMT -5 wilum47 said:

Every Utica native knows a street going North and South is an Avenue and East and West is Street. Pet peeve of mine.

But, when I lived in Utica I lived on a LANE! Not a street OR an Avenue!

[Clipper]

I understand your peeve fully. I used to read the first papers off the press while my trucks were loading. If you think the OD has misspelled words, you should see the ridiculous number of misspelled words and errors in our paper here in Bristol.

I called once and mentioned the numerous misspelled words in the classified section, and they told me simply that the ads were composed by the person paying for the ad. That was BS, because I have placed ads and the girl taking the ad, puts it into the computer using a keyboard. I have to assume that they don't have a spell checker on their computers.

Here in the south, there is an inordinate number of people who are barely literate, or totally illiterate. It is a sad thing to see, but it is obvious in a both speech and writings. Many were brought up out in the coal fields of SW Virginia and were only educated to a level where they could either farm or work the mines. Education was not always important in years gone by. Modern day children get and education, but unfortunately I find many people my own age that cannot fill out a job application because they cannot spell or write.

The OD still works as it did when your father was there, and everyone working at press time reads a paper and checks for registry problems, color problems, and printing errors. It is sad that without typesetters and such, there simply doesn't seem to be as many checks and balances before the plates hit the press room.

[dan]

To take this in a slightly different direction........

Why don't you ever hear about the Republicans holding a voter registration drive/bake sale?

[Swimmy]

Well, if you read the disgrace, cornhill seems to be moving west, or expanding. I remember earlier in this forum's existence someone made a comment about the elusive cornhill district.

[Ralph]

Not to bump heads with anyone, but Mohawk Street was the original boundary of the farm/farms that become Cornhill when they annexed it for development.
However, they started calling it Cornhill and ended it at Conkling for some odd reason for many years, then changed it back to Mohawk again.
But custom has always ended it at Conkling Ave. Though not everything east of that was considered East Utica either.

And not every Street going N/S is an Avenue. Oneida, Kemble, Steuben and Genesee Street to name just a few. Utica was laid out haphazardly as it evolved!

But I can’t imagine that the NAACP set up in East Utica……give me a break!

The OD and WKTV have randomly given names and locations to suit the situation over the last decade. Most of the interns they have there can’t even pronounce the names correctly and very seldom get the street or avenue end right either.

For the last ten years or so; if it was good, it happened in East Utica….if it was bad, it happened in Cornhill…….regardless of the actual location.
I have read articles about JCTOD being in East Utica……while a shooting down on Lansing Street was once reported as being in Cornhill.

No Dave, accuracy is not what it used to be.