Is the official name of the biggest city in New York State New York or New York City?
Also what is the status on Staten (sp?) Island. I know they voted to seperate from the other buroughs.
It’s officially the City of New York. People use “New York,” “New York City,” and “the City,” in order from far to near (i.e., in Europe, they’ll call it New York; on Long Island, it’s the City.)
There was talk of Staten Island suceeding from NYC, but nothing came of it. It would have required approval at the state legislative level, and I doubt the Democrats in the Assembly would have allowed it.
New York has five boroughs and five counties. Boroughs are Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island. Counties (in the same order) are New York, Kings, Queens, Bronx, and Richmond. County government is pretty much subsumed into the Borough government; I’ve never heard of any county officials.
Read “Sundials” in the new issue of Aboriginal Science Fiction.
www.sff.net/people/rothman
“and I doubt the Democrats in the Assembly would have allowed it.”
—RealityChuck
And I’m sure the republicans would have said something akin to “Yes, yes. Go my little brothers and prosper”
Peace,
mangeorge
Work like you don’t need the money…
Love like you’ve never been hurt…
Dance like nobody’s watching! …(Paraphrased)
And, to make it even more confusing, within New York City, “the City” usually refers to Manhattan.
And others just call it “Armpit” 
(ducks and covers)
Jeremy…
Anyone who says they don’t like children obviously isn’t cooking them properly.
In New York State, the Republicans in the Assembly don’t say much of anything. The Assembly has been solidly Democratic for decades. The Senate, OTOH is solidly Republican. Both houses are gerrymandered to keep it that way (and both parties cooperate in the gerrymandering). This is why the New York State Legislature is first in the nation with gridlock and a budget passed six months late.
Read “Sundials” in the new issue of Aboriginal Science Fiction.
www.sff.net/people/rothman
If I may interject a stereotypical rural West Texan’s response on a discussion regarding the City of New York: “Gawwww-ley, yer buildins shore are big!”
Not attempting to hijack, but perhaps augment, the thread: In the model of cities and counties that I am used to, county government mostly has jurisdiction over the areas that are not in the city limits, mostly with regard to law enforcement and transportation. The county I live in, for instance, has no ordinances regarding zoning or anything else that it tries to enforce on the cities. The City of New York obviously foils my model: the city itself (with its government) sprawls over five counties/boroughs. Is the county/borough goverment subservient to the city goverment (can the city “veto” decisions, ordinances, etc. made at the borough level)? Or does the city have a different enough jurisdiction such that clashes betwix the two entities are seldom?
Pantellerite, I have similar questions and have long since given up on any kind of widely-applicable answer.
For example - Did you know that the City of Baltimore, MD, is not within any county at all?
Not to mention the famous City and County of San Francisco…
Keeves – St. Louis MO is a county unto itself (there’s a seperate county called “St. Louis County”, which includes some of the suburbs but not the city itself). Is that the same situation as Baltimore?
Don’t forget about Long Island City, which is really a part of Queens (located on the “other” side of the 59th St bridge).
I always thought it was weird that when one’s address is written as New York, NY, it means Manhattan, but even though I live in the City of New York, I have to write Brooklyn, NY as my city/state. Why can’t people write Manhattan, NY?
Formerly “Melanie the Computer Idiot”
Manhattan is only the name of the island. The borough is New York County.
There is no political entity with the official name of Manhattan within the City of New York.
*SaxFace: I always thought it was weird that when one’s address is written as New York, NY, it means Manhattan, but even though I live in the City of New York, I have to write Brooklyn, NY as my city/state. Why can’t people write Manhattan, NY? *
I think in your case, Brooklyn was considered a city of its own until it joined NYC.
There’s also branch office city names, such as Crystal City, VA. But it is not acceptable to address to Crystal City; you must use Arlington.
Conversely, to mail to Ft. Myer (also withing Arlington County), you must address it to Ft. Myer, VA.
One other example: my parents live outside the city limits of Grand Junction, CO. Their PO branch is called Fruitvale. It is permissable to address their letters as Grand Junction, CO or Fruitvale, CO.
Torq wrote —
Nope. There is a Baltimore County which borders on the city, but the city is not part of it.
(This is what I’ve picked up on several visits, so I may be slightly in error.)
In New York state (outside of NYC), the organization is straighforward: The state is divided into counties, the counties are divided into townships (or towns) and cities (if a city is set up in that county). There’s a potential additional level of the incorporated village. These are sections of the towns. A village can’t be within the jurisdiction of a city.
Thus Schenectady County is made up of the City of Schenectady and the towns of Niskayuna, Glenville, Rotterdam, Princetown, and Duanesburg. There are two incorporated villages: Scotia and Delanson (the latter named after the DELaware ANd HudsON railroad).
New York City is different, probably because of the large population.
Read “Sundials” in the new issue of Aboriginal Science Fiction.
www.sff.net/people/rothman
What about the Yankees? I remember hearing tales of Brooklynites mourning the loss of their baseball team to L.A., and how they had no one to root for any more. Does this mean the Yankees are really the New York County Yankees? Who do the folks from The Bronx and Queens root for (in theory)?
Actually, that sounds like exactly the situation with St. Louis. There’s “St. Louis County” and then St. Louis itself. St. Louis (the city) is not administratively part of St. Louis County.
Boris…the Yanks DO play in the Bronx. Yankee Stadium has been up there since the 1920s.
Back in the good ol’ days of NYC baseball, pre-1958, the Giants played at Manhattan’s Polo Grounds, and the Dodgers at Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field.
Residents of Queens probably played catch as catch can. Until they got the Amazing Mets (New York Metropolitans) in the early '60s.
Staten Islanders, I have no idea. Who the hell cares about Staten Islanders, anyway?
Boris, you’re not gonna believe this, but Yankee Stadium is in the Bronx.
Personally, I think that supporting one’s hometown team simply because they’re from your hometown makes no sense at all unless a significant porion of the players are hometown people. And that reality ended decades ago. Currently, the only thing “New York” about the Yankees is that they play half their games there. Support them because their great, but they’re not New Yorkers.