Fictional Municipality/County Changes

[CoreySamson]

Like Quebec Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha!, some places could have exclamation and questionmarks. Like:

Wait, this gives me an idea...

Behold!

[Poiponen13]

Cities shall not cross county lines in any state.

[Roadgeekteen]

Cities shall not cross county lines in any state.

I actually agree with this. Multicounty cities have never made much sense to me. And how do the city governments deal with being in 2 counties?

[GaryV]

It seems to work in NYC.

Also there are instances in Michigan, Holland probably being the largest.

[Roadgeekteen]

It seems to work in NYC.

Also there are instances in Michigan, Holland probably being the largest.

Well technically NYC is more like a collection of counties that form a city. I was more talking about like your Michigan example. No towns or cities are in multiple counties in Massachusetts.

[mgk920]

Lots of multi-county cities in Wisconsin and Illinois.

Mike

[kphoger]

I'd probably just merge some counties together in states where they're fairly small.

Something like this:

[Roadgeekteen]

I'd probably just merge some counties together in states where they're fairly small.

Something like this:

I don't love the idea of merging big urban counties which already have lots of people with many small rural counties. And I don't love that county gore with Topeka stretching to the KC suburbs.

[kphoger]

I don't love the idea of merging big urban counties which already have lots of people with many small rural counties. And I don't love that county gore with Topeka stretching to the KC suburbs.

Counties already have both urban areas and rural areas in them.  For example, Sedgwick County has Wichita, but it also has Clearwater, Cheney, and Bentley.  What problem do you foresee that you wouldn't like?

Why shouldn't Topeka's county extend to the edge of the KC suburbs?  I chose that particular boundary precisely because Leavenworth County doesn't really have much "KC suburbs" in it at all–just Lansing, really, and that's pushing the definition of a suburb.

At any rate, it was a quick-and-dirty revamp.  My point is just that I'd prefer larger counties like that.

[Poiponen13]

I don't love the idea of merging big urban counties which already have lots of people with many small rural counties. And I don't love that county gore with Topeka stretching to the KC suburbs.

Counties already have both urban areas and rural areas in them.  For example, Sedgwick County has Wichita, but it also has Clearwater, Cheney, and Bentley.  What problem do you foresee that you wouldn't like?

Why shouldn't Topeka's county extend to the edge of the KC suburbs?  I chose that particular boundary precisely because Leavenworth County doesn't really have much "KC suburbs" in it at all–just Lansing, really, and that's pushing the definition of a suburb.

At any rate, it was a quick-and-dirty revamp.  My point is just that I'd prefer larger counties like that.

Wichita should be consolidated with Sedgwick County, creating city with many rural areas.

[kphoger]

Wichita should be consolidated with Sedgwick County, creating city with many rural areas.

Sounds more like you're just getting rid of cities, but keeping counties.

[hobsini2]

Cities shall not cross county lines in any state.

I actually agree with this. Multicounty cities have never made much sense to me. And how do the city governments deal with being in 2 counties?

It's not as difficult as you think. Aurora IL, while mostly in Kane County, does stretch into DuPage, Kendall and Will Counties.

[Scott5114]

Wichita should be consolidated with Sedgwick County, creating city with many rural areas.

Cities with many rural areas are a bad idea because the city has to choose one of two options:
1. The city is obliged to extend trash collection, water, and sewer services out into the rural areas, which is very expensive, so taxes have to be raised, which makes people angry.
2. The city instead decides to limit trash collection, water, and sewer services to only a subset of the city limits to limit expense. Everyone else has to either hire someone to pick up the trash or haul it away themselves, and install and maintain a well and septic system. Meanwhile they have to pay the same taxes everyone in the city does but get none of the benefits, which makes them angry.

But I don't expect you to say why it would be beneficial to put people through that, since that would take precious time away posting "I think [insert random phrase] should be done" and refusing to give any reason why.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Cities shall not cross county lines in any state.

This is perhaps the most sensible thing said by this user so far. Here in Spain municipalities don't stretch over a provincial border, they belong to one and only one province (then there's the weird cases of Murillo and Santa Eulalia de Gallego, which are in the province of Zaragoza but due to how the provincial border is drawn they receive some services, if not most, from Huesca, another provincial capital), and this is the case for everywhere in Europe as far as I know. So I don't know how those municipalities in the USA that stretch over a county line deal with more than one of their superiors, that seems like unnecesary duplication.

[Poiponen13]

Wichita should be consolidated with Sedgwick County, creating city with many rural areas.

Cities with many rural areas are a bad idea because the city has to choose one of two options:
1. The city is obliged to extend trash collection, water, and sewer services out into the rural areas, which is very expensive, so taxes have to be raised, which makes people angry.
2. The city instead decides to limit trash collection, water, and sewer services to only a subset of the city limits to limit expense. Everyone else has to either hire someone to pick up the trash or haul it away themselves, and install and maintain a well and septic system. Meanwhile they have to pay the same taxes everyone in the city does but get none of the benefits, which makes them angry.

But I don't expect you to say why it would be beneficial to put people through that, since that would take precious time away posting "I think [insert random phrase] should be done" and refusing to give any reason why.

In China, there are cities with many rural areas.

[kphoger]

In China, there are cities with many rural areas.

How does that contradict anything he said?

[Poiponen13]

In China, there are cities with many rural areas.

How does that contradict anything he said?

What is in China, should also be in US.

[hotdogPi]

The "cities with many rural areas" in China are equivalent to making Rhode Island a single city. These cities are also higher-level subdivisions.

If somehow Rhode Island became a single city, I imagine its 39 cities and towns would still have the same functions they do now, as it needs to be divided somehow.

[kphoger]

In China, there are cities with many rural areas.

How does that contradict anything he said?

What is in China, should also be in US.

That's your opinion.  Fine.  It still doesn't contradict anything he said.

[GaryV]

In China, there are cities with many rural areas.

How does that contradict anything he said?

What is in China, should also be in US.

What is in China should also be in Finland.

[kphoger]

What is in US, should also be in Finland.

[Poiponen13]

The "cities with many rural areas" in China are equivalent to making Rhode Island a single city. These cities are also higher-level subdivisions.

If somehow Rhode Island became a single city, I imagine its 39 cities and towns would still have the same functions they do now, as it needs to be divided somehow.

Chinese prefecture-level cities are divided to districts, counties and county-level cities, which are divided to subdistricts, towns and townships, which are divided to villages and residential communities. There should be more county equivalents in US which are not counties.

[kphoger]

There should be more brominated vegetable oil and red dye #40 in Finland.

[Scott5114]

In China, there are cities with many rural areas.

How does that contradict anything he said?

What is in China, should also be in US.

Why?

[jeffandnicole]

In China, there are cities with many rural areas.

How does that contradict anything he said?

What is in China, should also be in US.

Why?

We have Panda Express. What else do we need?