Explain the concept behind the "township" system for me. I just don't get it. They don't seem to follow any lines, they cross between towns, & people talk about them as if THEY were the towns. It's weirding me out. I'm fron Connecticut--we don't even have county-level government. Hell, most people in Connecticut don't even REALIZE we have counties until like 4th grade.
Everyone I've talked to has been unable to explain it, either. It's been "I don't know, it's just been that way" or "It's for taxes, I think," which makes even less sense.
Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :
A "Township" (Twp.) is an administrative subdivision of a county. They include towns inside them sometimes, but not always.
For instance, in Fayette County, the City of Uniontown is surrounded by North Union Township and South Union Township (which, ages ago, were simply Union Township) They have some separate services, and some combined. (You can tell you're in South Union Twp. because the roads are more well-maintained, for one). Even though Uniontown's urban area extends well into both townships, they are not considered part of the city proper.
That's about it. It's purely administrative. Apparently, there's some mechanism in place to tell what township you live in when you pay your local taxes, because they spend differently in each twp. In Fayette, for example, only Uniontown proper pays the taxes which paid for the library services (although South Union and North Union residents kept assuming THEY paid for the library, and were upset when they were charged for cards. We had to explain that a lot.
Posted by The BWC (Member # 818) on :
Basically like he said, but in the south, starting on a smaller scale, each administrave district elects a council, one of whom becomes the representative to represent the town or area in the township council,and one of those representatives on the township commison becomes a representaive, which the represetnative represets the township in the county. 1)Towns and cities have mayors, instead of represntatives.
Elections are another thing.
[ June 17, 2002, 15:59: Message edited by: The BWC ]
Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :
You should be glad you edited that. It was completely nonsensical before, and I was beginning to contemplate your untimely demise.
[ June 17, 2002, 16:00: Message edited by: First of Two ]
Posted by The BWC (Member # 818) on :
The only problem is that MoN is not an offical town reconized by the state, but is reconized by the county and electoral offices, which makes no sense, but even though it is regarded as one, which makes even less sense.
[ June 17, 2002, 16:03: Message edited by: The BWC ]
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
Ohhhhh...I see now: it's just BULLSHIT. OK, then. Thanks!
Here, we've got State College Borough, College Twp, Patton Twp., Ferguson Twp., Harris Twp....it's all so odd.
Posted by The BWC (Member # 818) on :
But this is in the South. It might be different where you live.
Posted by Snay (Member # 411) on :
I'm driving through Pennsylvannia tomorrow to visit my grandmother in Scranton. 83 to 81, yay.
Posted by Siegfried (Member # 29) on :
I just want to say that I'm still confused about townships, but that's okay because I don't have to deal with them down here. On the other hand, I did grow up in a town that has never had a town government. That's a head-scratcher right there to me.
Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :
For my BA in English, I had to write the beginning of a book.
I called my book "Aftermath," and set it in 2009, three months after a broken comet had slammed bits of itself into the Mediterranean, Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Pacific and Indian oceans, detroying most of Civilization As We Know It.
Chapter 3 of my book took place in Scranton, PA, and involved a octet of partially-insane RPG gamers (based on people I knew) deciding to leave town and head south to find a nuclear reactor and reboot civilization.
I never finished the book because, IMHO, it ended up sucking, plus two weeks after I got graded (a 'B+' so maybe it wasn't as bad as I think it was), I read "Lucifer's Hammer" and I couldn't have done as good a job as Niven & Pournelle.
Anyway, that's my Scranton connection.
Posted by Snay (Member # 411) on :
I hate Scranton. I always get lost there. But my grandmother lives near Northern Scranton High, which has been condemmed for quite some time. Ahhh, if I was only a teenager ... be fun to kick in some boards and go exploring.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
I don't know how townships are set up today, but I know that, back a century or two, the counties were divided into townships by a simple grid of north-south and east-west lines. So, they were basically square, except where they were on the edge of the county and the county border was irregular. But, if they're still used for tax purposes today, they may have been changed to reflect town borders. I don't know. I only know what I've seen in my genealogical research.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
quote: I don't know how townships are set up today, but I know that, back a century or two
God Tim, how old are you?
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
Some, as in my area, are municipalities in their own right, excluding any towns that may be in them....
Most townships are 36 square miles, or a 6 mile by 6 mile square, although others, like Oscoda Township (which includes the Village of Oscoda), in Iosco County are three normal townships east-west and one north-south...
They are as diverse in reason as the smallest, Omer MI, and the largest, Grand Rapids MI, cities in any state....
They also serve to divide up voting districts and ZIP Codes, although the ZIP Codes sometimes cross over, like in Skidway Lake MI, which has one places name, another places ZIP Code, and anothers telephone exchange...
Posted by The BWC (Member # 818) on :
Just so you know, my real name is robert, but everybody calls me Red. So call me Red.
Posted by Siegfried (Member # 29) on :
::points at First of Two::
His real name is Rob, and it was to him that Shik was directing his query.
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
Yes. Indeed. Using the familiar term as I addressed him as a fellow Pennsylvanian in the traditional manner. Yet I forgot the sacrfice of Amish. And I am from New York.
So no.
Posted by DT (Member # 80) on :
Jeff, on behalf of my state, I am saddened to know you will be driving through it.
And learning that First and Shik are also Pennsylvanians, I am now ashamed to be one and will, pending there expulsion, consider myself a Delawarean.
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
Ah, but as stated, I am not a TRUE Pennsylvanian. I drive fast. I have a fucked-up work ethic. I like to make people miserable.
Ahh, New York.
Posted by Nim Pim (Member # 205) on :
That Patton twerp, that Ferguson Twerp, that Harris Twerp? You really don't like kiddies, do you? Remember, we've all been little! Posted by Snay (Member # 411) on :
Well, DT, I drove through it as fast as possible. Borrowed my Dad's Camry, and boy can that thing move compared to my Jeep! I just got back ... left at 9:00, in at 12:30, not bad considering the Wendy's lunch stop I made in Lebanon.
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