Should areas become their own counties/cities?

[kevinb1994]

Georgia has some too. Forget which ones, though.

[US 89]

Georgia has some too. Forget which ones, though.

Athens-Clarke County
Macon-Bibb County
Augusta-Richmond County
Columbus and Muscogee County
Cusseta and Chattahoochee County
Georgetown and Quitman County
Statenville and Echols County
Webster County consolidated government

[skluth]

Here's another one: Chicago really needs to separate from Cook County. Chicago definitely doesn't need both city and county governments, and Cook County can't possibly optimize what's best for Chicago, Calumet City, and Winnetka.

I lived in the St Louis metro for almost 30 years during my career, over half that in the city. St Louis separated from its county about 150 years ago. It worked well for the city until the 1950s when white flight followed the interstates to the suburbs in the wake of Brown vs Board of Education. St Louis City only really started recovering financially and psychologically around Y2K and it still has a long way to go. The county, OTOH, is doing fairly well despite incidents like Ferguson.

The real problem though is the lack of regional cooperation caused by the separation. There is serious mistrust between the City and County governments when they work together on almost anything. I don't think the Zoo-Museum District cooperation between the City and County could exist if being formed today. I minored in Regional Planning, so watching the City-County conflicts on almost every issue for years was immensely frustrating as a local.

[frankenroad]

When I was a senior in high school (1974), my final term paper for my Government class was exploring the pros & cons of consolidating Cincinnati and Hamilton County into a single entity.   

It's an idea that's never been seriously discussed; my conclusion 48 years ago (yikes) was that the risks outweighed the benefits; I know a lot more about local politics now, and my conclusion would be even stronger.  The idea of merging the city and county 911 dispatch centers has been bandied about for 20 years and it has gone basically nowhere.  I can't imagine the fireworks that would occur during the consolidation of 37 cities and villages (two of which also extend into neighboring counties) and 11 townships into a single governmental entity.  Cincinnatians are know for their parochial attitudes.

[ftballfan]

Any county that is discontinuous (i.e. no direct road access between two parts of the county) are prime candidates for boundary changes IMHO. For example, Bryan County, Georgia is separated in two by Fort Stewart, which means there are no direct road access between the two parts of the county without entering other counties. There are two options, and both would have major drawbacks and/or cost a lot of $$$:
1. Build a road (surrounded by high fences and grade separations for military vehicles) connecting the Richmond Hill area to the Pembroke area. Make it a re-extension of GA 67.
2. Since Georgia has a constitutional limit of 159 counties, I would pare down Bryan County to only include the fast-growing area south of Fort Stewart, with northern Bryan County being moved into Bulloch County. The county seat of Bryan County would move to Richmond Hill, as Pembroke (the current county seat) would become part of Bulloch County.

[golden eagle]

Can Birmingham, AL merge with Jefferson County?

It can if Alabama law allows.  Depends on whether they want to.

It's happened several times already.  NYC is actually 5 counties (each borough is one, with Manhattan being New York County, Staten Island being Richmond County, the other borough counties using their own name).  Indianapolis and Marion County merged in the late 1960s.  Then there's Miami/Dade County, Houston/Harris County, and Jacksonville/Duval County that merged city and county governments.  There are probably others I can't think of right now.

When did Houston and Harris County merge?