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The Consolidated City and County


tamias6

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Do Canadian inner cities have the same problems as US cities do I.E. bad schools, high crime, urban blight etc.? If so then I'd agree to the protester of the suburbs being conisolidated against their will. However, in US cities and counties that consolidated I'd say to those that don't like the idea of their cities and counties consolidating asked for it to happen way back in the 60's when White Flight took place and took with them to the 'burbs the tax revenue needed to maintain a healthy city. If nobody wants to live in the city than the city has no choice but to go to them. IF Canadian Cities suffered from White Flight than this applies to Canadian cities as well.

I can't say I support the idea of amalgamating suburbs into central cities against their will. They've done this in Ontario and Quebec in Canada, and in New South Wales in Australia, with dubious results. Also, the residents in Ontario and Quebec that were subject to it protested loudly (and rightfully so) holding referendums to deamalgamate that were successful. The premiers of both Ontario and Quebec promised to uphold those deamalgamations, and to his credit, the latter premier actually kept his word.

Can't say I blame the suburbanites either for paying their taxes to desireable suburban communities. Central cities still get the revenue from businesses in the city limits that residents commute to work for.

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There's also been recent talk about San Diego County becoming just San Diego. The city has about 40 percent of the county's population, its airport, pro sports and other amenities, but the northern part of the county (called North County) feels somewhat separated from San Diego proper. The upscale suburbs would struggle with consolidation, but there are a lot of duplicated services that could be eliminated.

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There's also been recent talk about San Diego County becoming just San Diego. The city has about 40 percent of the county's population, its airport, pro sports and other amenities, but the northern part of the county (called North County) feels somewhat separated from San Diego proper. The upscale suburbs would struggle with consolidation, but there are a lot of duplicated services that could be eliminated.
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The benefits of consolidation sound good. Everyone should read Cities Without Suburbs by David Rusk. I can't help thinking about an example in which consolidation meant the death of the urban core, however. When the urban town of South Norfolk merged with the suburban and even rural Norfolk County to form the City of Chesapeake, VA in the 1960s, South Norfolk residents hoped the extra tax base and resources would be a boon to their neighborhoods. What happened instead, however, is the government center was placed in the geographic center of the new city, out on the suburban fringe. Growth and land development occurred out along the suburban freeways. Anything that happened in Chesapeake happened in the new, flashy suburbs which extended farther and farther out into the hinterland. South Norfolk was ignored, and hence, it decayed for four decades. Whether or not South Norfolk could have avoided such a fate had it become its own independent city, I'm not sure. But consolidation was not the quick fix solution for them.

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Denver, CO and Denver Co are unique in the aspect that Denver is able to annex land, thus increasing the size of Denver County. Granted this is to the detriment of Adams and Arapahoe Counties in particular, and less so th Jefferson Co. When the new DIA was built the city/county of Denver was extended eastward increasing the city/county's land area and the old Stapleton International Airport property was ripe for redevelopment. I'm not sure if the annexations are done at the local level or by and act of the Colorado legislature, perhaps someone from Colorado can answer that. It effectively makes Denver an independent city like Baltimore and St. Louie, but still able to annex. I'm not sure if Broomfield County works the same either or if its boundaries are fixed.

I think the original rationale in Denver and Denver County being a single entity was to create a special capital district like the District of Columbia.

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San Francisco is a consolidated city/county (City and County of San Francisco). It is the smallest county in California since it occupies the same 49 sq. miles as the city. Our airport is in San Mateo county and so is our county jail since it's too expensive to build jail space in the city! The usual motivation/driver behind consolidation is elimination of duplicate services/dual taxation. The cost of consolidation however, usually eats up the savings.
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  • 3 months later...
Do Canadian inner cities have the same problems as US cities do I.E. bad schools, high crime, urban blight etc.? If so then I'd agree to the protester of the suburbs being conisolidated against their will. However, in US cities and counties that consolidated I'd say to those that don't like the idea of their cities and counties consolidating asked for it to happen way back in the 60's when White Flight took place and took with them to the 'burbs the tax revenue needed to maintain a healthy city. If nobody wants to live in the city than the city has no choice but to go to them. IF Canadian Cities suffered from White Flight than this applies to Canadian cities as well.
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  • 4 months later...

Here's some history, 1900-2004 (the most recently updated list I could find) of some city/county consolidation efforts:

1902 Denver/Denver County, Colorado Pass

1907 Honolulu/Honolulu County, Hawaii Pass

1921 Oakland/Alameda County, Califronia Fail

1924 Butte/Silver Bow County, Montana Fail

1926 St. Louis city/St. Louis County, Missouri Fail

1929 Pittsburgh/Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Fail

1932 Various towns/Rivalli County, Montana Fail

1933 Macon/Bibb County, Georgia Fail

1935 Jacksonville/Duval County, Florida Fail

1947 Baton Rouge/East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana Pass

1948 Birmingham/Jefferson County, Alabama Fail

1948 Miami/Dade County, Florida Fail

1950 Hampton/Elizabeth City County, Virginia Fail

1952 Hampton/Elizabeth City County, Virginia Pass

1953 Miami/Dade County, Florida Fail

1954 Albany/Dougherty County, Georgia Fail

1957 Newport News/Warwick County, Virginia Pass

1958 Nashville/Davidson County, Tennessee Fail

1959 Albuquerque/Bernalillo County, New Mexico Fail

1959 Knoxville/Knox County, Tennessee Fail

1960 Macon/Bibb County, Georgia Fail

1961 Durham/Durham County, North Carolina Fail

1961 Richmond/Henrico County, Virginia Fail

1962 Columbus/Muscogee County, Georgia Fail

1962 Memphis/Shelby County, Tennessee Fail

1962 Nashville/Davidson County, Tennessee Pass

1962 South Norfolk/Norfolk County, Virginia Pass (renamed City of Chesapeake)

1962 St. Louis city/St. Louis County, Missouri Fail

1962 Virginia Beach/Princess Anne County, Virginia Pass

1964 Chattanooga/Hamilton County, Tennessee Fail

1967 Jacksonville/Duval County, Florida Pass

1967 Tampa/Hillsborough County, Florida Fail

1969 Athens/Clarke County, Georgia Fail

1969 Brunswick/Glynn County, Georgia Fail

1969 Carson City/Ormsby County, Nevada Pass

1969 Indianapolis/Marion County, Indiana *

1969 Juneau/Greater Juneau Borough, Alaska Fail

1970 Anchorage/Greater Anchorage Borough, Alaska Fail

1970 Chatanooga/Hamilton County, Tennessee Fail

1970 Columbus/Muscogee County, Georgia Pass

1970 Juneau/Greater Juneau Borough, Alaska Pass

1970 Pensacola/Escambia County, Florida Fail

1970 Tampa/Hillsborough County, Florida Fail

1970 Winchester/Frederick County, Virginia Fail

1971 Anchorage/Greater Anchorage Borough, Alaska Fail

1971 Charlotte/Mecklenberg, North Carolina Fail

1971 Sitka/Greater Sitka Borough, Alaska Pass

1971 Tallahassee/Leon Count, Florida Fail

1971 Tampa/Hillsborough County, Florida Fail

1971 Various cities/Namsemond County, Virginia Fail

1972 Columbia/Richland County, South Carolina Fail (corrected 8/20)

1972 Fort Pierce/St. Lucie County, Florida Fail

1972 Lexington/Fayette County, Kentucky Pass

1972 Athens/Clarke County, Georgia Fail

1972 Suffolk City/Namsemond City-County Virginia Pass

1972 Tampa/Hillsborough County, Florida Fail

1973 Albuquerque/Bernalillo County, New Mexico Fail

1973 Savannah/Chatham County, Georgia Fail

1973 Tallahassee/Leon County, Florida Fail

1973 Wilmington/New Hanover County, North Carolina Fail

1974 Augusta/Richmond County, Georgia Fail

1974 Durham/Durham County, North Carolina Fail

1974 Portland/Multnomah County, Oregon Fail

1974 Sacramento/Sacramento County, California Fail

1975 Anchorage/Greater Anchorage Borough, Alaska Pass

1976 Augusta/Richmond County, Georgia Fail

1976 Anaconda/Deer Lodge County, Montana Pass

1976 Butte/Silver Bow County, Montana Pass

1981 Houma/Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana Fail

1982 Athens/Clarke County, Georgia Fail

1982 Louisville/Jefferson County, Kentucky Fail

1984 Houma/Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana Pass

1987 Brunswick/Glynn County, Georgia Fail

1987 Wilmington/New Hanover County, North Carolina Fail

1988 Augusta/Richmond Georgia **

1988 Lynchburg/Moore County, Tennessee Pass

1991 Conyers/Rockdale County, Georgia Fail

1990 Athens/Clarke County, Georgia Pass

1990 Bowling Green/Warren County, Kentucky Fail

1990 Gainesville/Alachua County, Florida Fail

1990 Owensboro/Davis County, Kentucky Fail

1990 Roanoke/Roanoke County, Virginia Fail

1990 Sacramento/Sacramento County, California Fail

1991 Griffin/Spalding Spalding County, Georgia Fail

1992 Ashland and Catlettsburg/Boyd County, Kentucky Fail

1992 Lafayette/Lafayette Parish, Louisiana Pass

1994 Des Moines/Polk County, Iowa Fail

1994 Douglasville/Douglas County, Georgia Fail

1994 Metter/Candler County, Georgia Fail

1995 Augusta/Richmond County, Georgia Pass

1995 Spokane/Spokane County, Washinton Fail

1995 Wilmington/New Hanover County, North Carolina Fail

1997 Griffin/Spalding County, Georgia Fail

1997 Kansas City/Wyandotte County, Kansas Pass

1999 Hawkinsville, Pulaski County, Georgia Fail

2001 Broomfield/Broomfield County, Colorado Pass***

2003 Cusseta/Chattahoochee County, Georgia Pass

2003 Louisville/Jefferson County, Kentucky Pass

2004 Georgetown/Quitman County, Georgia Pass

2004 Des Moines/Polk County, Iowa Fail

2006 Various (unincorporated)/Camden County, North Carolina Pass**** (corrected 8/20)

(year?) Yakutat/Yakutat Borough, Alaska Pass

Formally Proposed:

Evansville/Vanderburgh County, Indiana - 2007 or 2008 referendum

* Consolidation did not require referendum.

** Referendum passed but was blocked by Justice Deparment.

*** Newly created county, consolidated with pre-existing city of Broomfield.

**** County with no incorporated municipalities, consolidation was a full-county incorporation.

Other notes:

Successful consolidations in Virginia, and in Carson City NV resulted in the creation of independent cities, with the county designation going extinct upon completion of the consolidation.

Smaller, pre-existing municipalities located within several consolidated cities (Nashville, Jacksonville, Augusta, Indianapolis, Athens, Kansas City KS and others) retain seperate indentities and governments.

Consolidated governments in Baton Rouge, Houma and Lafeyette, LA retain pre-existing city limits, and population counts for those cities reflect city limit population: essentially a governmental consolidation that allows all seperate entities within the Parish to retain their own identities.

Honolulu is technically a CDP, though county governance was formally consolidated in 1907. Census population counts reflect the CDP area.

As always, the idea is under discussion or has gained business endorsement in any number of other places, and is under formal/governmental study or review in a few others.

--Source: University Center for Social and Urban Research, University of Pittsburgh; Wikipedia & various newspapers

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  • 5 months later...

It would also be interesting to see the list of places that have proposed consolidation but that had it fail before it ever reached the ballot box. I know that many counties in SC have had this happen- partially due to the incredibly complex process of creating a consolidated government in SC.

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I agree - I know of a few random places, off the top of my head. Wikipedia is by no means definitive, but their page on consolidated cities does include links to an interesting array of local newspapers, business groups or chambers of commerce that have pushed the idea or placed it under study, within the last 10-15 years: Pittsburgh, Buffalo and Cleveland are some of the more intriguing, around the country; there's apparently some very detailed investigation of the idea in Pittsburgh. The newspaper in Cleveland ran a very detailed series on what the pros and cons of a Cleveland/Cuyahoga consolidation might be.

In SC, the Wikipedia reference list mentions Charleston, and Gaffney popped up on this board some time ago as well. The idea was under study as recently as a year ago in Currituck County, NC (which has no incorporated towns, but a fast-growing suburban overflow from Va Beach), and there was a consolidation/countywide incorporation next door in Camden (City & County of Camden NC).

Nationally, the most recent (2007) was another rural county: Tribune/Greeley County, Kansas (population 1534).

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I am currently living in Greeley County Kansas. We are about to have a primary for our Board of Supervisors, our new governing body. I am really suprised at the community response we have had on this issue. Being a small community in very rural (I believe our actual designation is frontier) Kansas this has been a major step for us to keep our community intact.

I agree - I know of a few random places, off the top of my head. Wikipedia is by no means definitive, but their page on consolidated cities does include links to an interesting array of local newspapers, business groups or chambers of commerce that have pushed the idea or placed it under study, within the last 10-15 years: Pittsburgh, Buffalo and Cleveland are some of the more intriguing, around the country; there's apparently some very detailed investigation of the idea in Pittsburgh. The newspaper in Cleveland ran a very detailed series on what the pros and cons of a Cleveland/Cuyahoga consolidation might be.

In SC, the Wikipedia reference list mentions Charleston, and Gaffney popped up on this board some time ago as well. The idea was under study as recently as a year ago in Currituck County, NC (which has no incorporated towns, but a fast-growing suburban overflow from Va Beach), and there was a consolidation/countywide incorporation next door in Camden (City & County of Camden NC).

Nationally, the most recent (2007) was another rural county: Tribune/Greeley County, Kansas (population 1534).

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  • 2 months later...
I've posted about this on the Hartford board in the past. The pro's heavily outweigh the con's, but some people were so adamantly against it, it was nuts. They were concerned the density would drop. :wacko: Nice to see this thread, Hartford merging with some suburbs or with Hartford County would be the best thing, in my humble opinion. A city of 17 sq miles has a hard time competing numbers-wise with other larger areas too, that's something else that was left out of this argument...
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