Talk:Altoona, Pennsylvania

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[edit] Facts

Tom Martin's birth name is Kent Martin. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 12.177.42.2 (talk) 17:48, 11 May 2005 (UTC)

Wayne Hippo is now Altoona's mayor. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.240.207.230 (talk) 15:56, 16 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Metro + Urban

I've added information from other Wikipedia articles to the Altoona and Johnstown pages regarding the Metro and Urban areas. MVillani1985 01:20, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Merge Downtown Altoona, Pennsylvania into Altoona, Pennsylvania

Support - I am at a bit of a loss as to why the downtown needs a separate article. Is there any precedent of other small cities with separate articles for the downtown? The current downtown article reads like a tourist pamphlet, with significant occurrences of weasel words. From skimming through the downtown article, it looks like there are few verified facts -- those could certainly be worked into this article. Personally, I think the main Altoona article would benefit from a reorganisation to better-encompass descriptions of geographical areas. --Bossi (talk • gallery • contrib) 00:00, 2 November 2007 (UTC)

I don't see why an aritcle about the downtown shouldn't be on here. Afterall, it is notable enough to have its own article. And Altoona is not the only small city that has its own downtown article, many others do, such as Harrisburg. While Altoona may not be a major urban center, it is the ninth largest city in Pennsylvania AND there are several articles about important buildings in Altoona. Yes, the article could use a lot of cleaning up, it was just a start class article afterall. I DO agree with the reccomendation for cleaning up the main Altoona article's "sections" section, though. MVillani1985 23:46, 3 November 2007 (UTC)
Yes, I agree that Downtown Altoona deserves it's own page, because of its historical value. I personally find it very handy, although it does not have the objective information I am looking for. It does read like a tourist pamphlet. Being a resident, I see a bit of bias in the article as it stands. For instance there are many vacant office spaces downtown. Lenore22 20:48, 8 November 2007 (UTC)
Thank you for your support. It is a little biased, I'll admit, but that's because I wrote it when I was in a hurry. I think the merger tag should be replaced by a cleanup tag. However I disagree about the vacant office spaces, I see only a handful of vacant offices, most of the vacancies I see are retail-related from former retail giants (such as Woolworth's, McCrory's, Kaufman's and Sons) in "all or nothing" types of buildings. Downtown Altoona is signifficant for its historic value as a tie-in to the Pennsylvania Railroad and being the 9th largest city in Pennsylvania (probably now the 10th largest if current population change estimates are correct). MVillani1985 23:52, 8 November 2007 (UTC)
Support merge per nom. --Son (talk) 21:45, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

Explain your reasoning for supporting a merge. Remember, Wikipedia is not a paper encyclopedia. We're not limited on the number of notable things we can list. Downtown Altoona IS notable because of its history, primarily the history with the Pennsylvania railroad. People still visit the downtown to this day just to watch the trains, go to the Railroaders Museum, or while they're in the downtown, go to a restaurant to eat or a store and buy something. I know it's not that great of an article now, but I just wrote it in one day. My intention was to get the article started, NOT for it to be the final copy. MVillani1985 16:13, 2 December 2007 (UTC)

By no means am I saying that the downtown is not notable, but it is not notable beyond the notability already inherent in Altoona. Apart from the baseball stadium and the commercial sprawl of Plank Road, the downtown is Altoona and Altoona is the downtown. Does that help clarify my viewpoint at all? --Bossi (talk • gallery • contrib) 17:35, 2 December 2007 (UTC)
That does clarify your viewpoint, but as an Altoona native, I'd have to correct you. Unless you use an extraordinarily expanded version of "downtown Altoona", including all of the Dutch Hill neighborhoods, the Pleasant Valley region (it's directly north of Plank Road), the East End district, the Fifth Ward, Greenwood, Logantown, the Penn State Altoona campus, the Juniata section, the Route 764 Commercial District (which extends all the way to Newry, which although part of the Altoona Urban Area, is not a section of Altoona), the Broad Avenue Historic District, the Horseshoe Curve......ok I think you get the idea.
Downtown is a very large part of Altoona, and it's an unusually large downtown for such a small city (despite the fact that only a handful of buildings qualify as "skyscrapers), but it's nowhere near the entire city. Downtown's boundaries are 16th Avenue, 6th Avenue (although you could argue 4th or 3rd avenue because of the schools), 4th Street, and 18th Street, with 24th Street as the boundary in the Broad Avenue area (although one could argue that 29th street or 31st street is the true boundary, but the "downtown" structure generally ends at 24th street).
My point here is that there is a lot to Altoona beyond the baseball stadium, the downtown, and Plank Road. The reason downtown Altoona deserves its own seperate article is because it's an important part of Altoona that's very distinct from the rest of the city. Some other neighborhoods might also call for articles because of their history, like the Juniata neighborhood, the Dutch Hill neighborhood, etc. But I know they're not quite noteable enough to blossom into an A-class article, so I haven't created them. I know that stubs are generally frowned upon in the Wikipedia community. MVillani1985 22:27, 2 December 2007 (UTC)
I am grateful for your continued desire to expand the information regarding the city, but I still feel that a good share of the information in the downtown article would fit in nicely with the main article. I just tried a rewrite to incorporate the information in the separate Downtown article (and also to patch up a number of other deficiencies in the main Altoona article itself). This can be easily expanded to accommodate other sections, as well, and none of the sections occupy an excessive length. What are everyone else's opinions on the rewrite? --Bossi (talk • gallery • contrib) 01:56, 3 December 2007 (UTC)

Support merge. PreciousRoi (talk) 18:34, 28 January 2008 (UTC)

To restart the debate: what's people's stance since the rewrite? --Bossi (talk • gallery • contrib) 02:09, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
I think there should be an Altoona downtown article. The rewrite, does seem to be alright, but I think the downtown article should stay, as well as the lesser info, on the main page.
Also, dividing the information into two different sections, will make reading easier. I've often found it harder, when looking through large pages, for a certain piece of info with all those other sections around it.
Because I use to live in downtown Altoona, I know there's much to say about it. So, once again: Yes, I think it is a good idea to keep two separate pages, we don't want to crowd up the main article, do we?

Anonymous 11:13, 23 March 2008 (EST)

[edit] County map

I may be wrong but I think they have the wrong county highlighted for Blair County. I think they have Cambria highlighted. Blair is the one to the right and shaped like a teddy bear. If I'm right, maybe someone who is a member can contact them. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.3.2.130 (talk) 19:14, 14 November 2007 (UTC)

It is correct as it is. [1] --Bossi (talk • gallery • contrib) 22:13, 14 November 2007 (UTC)