New York Districts?

[Kevin Leonard]

So the idea of New York Districts was once again brought up, and if I recall when I left this thread last, it was a jumbled heap of people arguing over petty things that don't particularly matter when it comes to making NY transition to districts.

There are so many teams that would benefit enormously from the transition to district events. Some great Capital Region teams I can think of that can only afford one event are 5236 and 4203, who are both awesome year-on-year, but only ever attend one regional. These teams would benefit enormously from districts.

Additionally, the majority of the teams that attend the New York City Regional only get to attend one event. With districts, those teams would now get two events, and be more likely to qualify for higher levels of play.

Almost every team in New York would be positively affected, except for perhaps 229 and 2053, who would likely still have to travel quite a bit for both of their events, and they often go out-of-state as it is right now to attend events.

I'm willing to hear counterarguments either in this thread or even in person this weekend at the Finger Lakes Regional, but I really can't see any good reason not to make the switch as soon as possible.

[Sperkowsky]

We need to make this switch and there's no reason it can not happen for next year. Let's start being proactive maybe make a petition and reach out to the local governing body's. Down here we have SBPLI, and NYCFirst not too familiar with who runs the 2 Regionals upstate. Either way this needs to happen.

[Alex2614]

Originally Posted by Kevin Leonard

So the idea of New York Districts was once again brought up, and if I recall when I left this thread last, it was a jumbled heap of people arguing over petty things that don't particularly matter when it comes to making NY transition to districts.

There are so many teams that would benefit enormously from the transition to district events. Some great Capital Region teams I can think of that can only afford one event are 5236 and 4203, who are both awesome year-on-year, but only ever attend one regional. These teams would benefit enormously from districts.

Additionally, the majority of the teams that attend the New York City Regional only get to attend one event. With districts, those teams would now get two events, and be more likely to qualify for higher levels of play.

Almost every team in New York would be positively affected, except for perhaps 229 and 2053, who would likely still have to travel quite a bit for both of their events, and they often go out-of-state as it is right now to attend events.

I'm willing to hear counterarguments either in this thread or even in person this weekend at the Finger Lakes Regional, but I really can't see any good reason not to make the switch as soon as possible.

Spot on post! I think NY is going to run into a similar challenge that we here in West Virginia and teams in South Carolina is dealing with. You will soon be surrounded on all sides by districts, and your regional play options get further and further away. When Ontario and PA/OH/WV go into districts, where is your closest out of state regional? You are pushed pretty far away.

[FlamingSpork]

I have made a map of the locations of the teams that attended/will be attending New York's two "upstate" regionals, FLR and Tech Valley.
https://batchgeo.com/map/821f21483e1...d991dcdc725113

The map appears to show that most of the teams attending are located in the Albany and Rochester areas, suggesting that Syracuse would actually be a central location for DCMP if Upstate were its own district.

Of course, I know nothing about the challenges of regional/district organization. I merely wanted to lend some data to the discussion.

[Sperkowsky]

Originally Posted by FlamingSpork

I have made a map of the locations of the teams that attended/will be attending New York's two "upstate" regionals, FLR and Tech Valley.
https://batchgeo.com/map/821f21483e1...d991dcdc725113

The map appears to show that most of the teams attending are located in the Albany and Rochester areas, suggesting that Syracuse would actually be a central location for DCMP if Upstate were its own district.

Of course, I know nothing about the challenges of regional/district organization. I merely wanted to lend some data to the discussion.

Let's try to stay off the dcmp topic that pretty much was the reason this thread derailed. Bottom line who knows who let's get this ball rolling.

[plnyyanks]

Originally Posted by Sperkowsky

Bottom line who knows who let's get this ball rolling.

This is one of those things that needs to start from the top. Start by emailing your RD and see if they're receptive/what they're doing on the issue.

[smistthegreat]

There is a good deal of relevant information posted by FIRST. For those of us who are willing to work towards a solution, I'd start by reading through the District Planning Guide posted here.

[Lil' Lavery]

Stop talking on Chief Delphi, and start working with your planning committees to figure out what challenges remain.

[Hallry]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

Stop talking on Chief Delphi, and start working with your planning committees to figure out what challenges remain.

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...47#post1562147

[smistthegreat]

For those of you who don't know, contact information for Regional Directors and Senior Mentors can be found on this page.

[Jay O'Donnell]

Originally Posted by Kevin Leonard

Almost every team in New York would be positively affected, except for perhaps 229 and 2053, who would likely still have to travel quite a bit for both of their events, and they often go out-of-state as it is right now to attend events.

229 wants districts as much as anybody. We have to travel no matter what and being guaranteed two events in state would be amazing.

[Sperkowsky]

Alright, so let's email some RD's. Just to not double email let's choose which ones each of us want to contact.

I have no problem emailing Mrs.Winter who is the RD for Long Island as long as no more experienced people want to do it.

There's also Mr.Pearson for FLR, Mrs.Daly for NYC and, Mrs.Martinez for TVR.

[anishde]

Originally Posted by Sperkowsky

Alright, so let's email some RD's. Just to not double email let's choose which ones each of us want to contact.

I have no problem emailing Mrs.Winter who is the RD for Long Island as long as no more experienced people want to do it.

There's also Mr.Pearson for FLR, Mrs.Daly for NYC and, Mrs.Martinez for TVR.

Ana Martinez is part of the driving force behind the proposed district system, so you may find your best shot with her. However, the options are still limitless for districts in New York. For example (and to include others from pages previous):
-Lake Ontario District for Ontario/Western NY, and create Hudson Valley District for Capital Region and NYC/Long Island
-Lake Ontario District for Ontario/Western NY/Capital Region, and fold rest of New York into MAR
-New York District with the DCMP wherever the hell it goes
-New York folded into MAR to form a superdistrict

But it's seriously becoming a problem when you realize as a New York team that the next southerly tournament you can compete in is Palmetto. As far as I've heard, districts are due for NY in 2019, in whatever shape or form it may come in.

[pmangels17]

Not to derail again, but I think it would be awesome for LI/NYC teams to get to play more MAR teams, either as two adjacent districts with possibility for interplay (where the earned points count for your team regardless of which district runs the event you attend), or as one super-district. This would bring back together a lot of teams that traditionally competed together at NYC, NJ, and SBPLI regionals, especially since these regions still often compete directly in the off-season together.

[bdaroz]

Disclaimer: Rookie Mentor / Rookie Team

One of the things I did really enjoy at the Tech Valley Regional was that we were able to have teams such as 48 (How many safety vests do you guys own?!) from Ohio, 4481 (is it a requirement that all team members be 6' 4" or taller?) from the Netherlands, 359 (Mahalo) from Hawaii, not to mention several others from outside our area.

From what I read it looks like when you go to a district format the only teams eligible to play in that district are from within the geographical area of the district.

Don't get me wrong, I think the ability to have 2 events without an egregious amount of travel (or cost) is a great thing, but being able to expand the teams we play does add a "flair" to the event. (If you were at NYTVR you'd know just how.. uh... "quiet" 4481 was. )