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"All these burbs" really is subjective. The original planned diamond district was 100 sq miles. Those current "burbs" of Arlington and Alexandria where included as the federal district at some point. Currently combined to the 700k population of DC proper, the original District of Columbia as it was envisioned has a current population of around 1.1 million within 100 sq mi. Still smaller than say Philadelphia for example in both land area and population, but it's a much clearer picture and a lot closer.
The rest of the inner beltway is much different from the original diamond district, there is much less of a street grid, and more leafy between neighborhoods. I was just trying to provide some context.
What they were saying is the original idea was DC would have basically no people except Congressmen, but since basically and entire congressional district worth of people live there without a Congressman its kind of a bad idea to then double the size of the city and disenfranchise more people.
What they were saying is the original idea was DC would have basically no people except Congressmen, but since basically and entire congressional district worth of people live there without a Congressman its kind of a bad idea to then double the size of the city and disenfranchise more people.
Or you could double the size and make it a city-state.
IDK I think having little towns is beneficial. Somerville for example has been more aggressive with bike infrastructure than Boston, while Everett has on its own accord designated Bus Only Lanes on Broadway, School Districts are more responsive when they are smaller (possibly one of the reasons Boston is one of the best Urban School districts in the country), and overall it allows small scale experimenting on policies before they become region wide.
Maybe because Boston's relationship with its suburbs is more of a two way street than in other metros or the fact that in most cases the towns identities are not "we are not Boston" that is the case in lots of Southern and Midwestern suburbs but have their own proud history and their identity is rooted in internal feelings about the town itself rather than escaping the urban center, which leads to more cooperation.
Yeah that all makes sense. Philly burbs are also "two way streets" (I think as many or nearly as many commute out of the city to the burbs for work) and the burbs here are not "we are not Philly." From the political perspective you described, it does make sense. It is just crazy to me that the areas I mentioned in Boston feel more urban and connected to Boston's core than do the far stretches of Philly.
You'd have to jump over a bunch of hurdles just for DC to annex anything so might ad well go for statehood at the same time.
That defeats the purpose of a special district. But, with all the people that now live there, full statehood would probably be best, with maybe a tiny "district" that's a part of no state for the govt. buildings.
I can't speak for the other cities but Phoenix proper's boundaries are extensive and frankly hurt the city politically. There is the core of Phoenix, the original Phoenix (parts of Uptown, Midtown, Garfield, Encanto, etc.) that are very blue and liberal who need things like public transit, zoning, etc. and then there is the suburban Phoenix that matches the politics of the suburbs like Glendale, Scottsdale, etc. and are conservative and generally anti-government.
This political divide also exists in the suburbs to some degree due to strange annexation of lands ridiculously far from their cores (Scottsdale, Glendale, Mesa, etc.) in which the small suburban cores are so far away that there is no connection to it, just a similar address. It hurts the region immensely in terms of getting things done that cooperate with both regions. There is never a "win-win" situation because of it. An example is Old Town and South Scottsdale--once again, original Scottsdale--and then areas like the Quarter that have no alignment to Old Town whatsoever. I know when I was in Arrowhead Ranch in North Glendale, I felt zero connection to DT Glendale. I did however, feel closer to Peoria and North Phoenix in terms of amenities and similar political behaviors.
Also despite the large boundaries of both Phoenix and it's suburbs, it hasn't done anything to help in creating neighborhood identities and roots. As a now Phoenix proper resident, who lives in North Phoenix, I still share a city with people in the Ahwatukee region which is more than 30 miles away from me. You'd think even with a common Phoenix umbrella it would want to establish neighborhoods for the sake of clarity even, but it's not the case.
It's sort of a similar situation in which large governments with large land masses control large amounts of people who are heavily diverse (like our country) but being top-heavy (federal government heavy) with little or even zero local involvement (city and county).
I think St. Louis would make the most sense as the city almost has one third of the population it used to have. While maintaining 61 sq miles of land, considering St. Louis County surrounds it, shares the same name, owes its significance to, it only makes sense for it to join the county.
Houston should de-annex everything north of calvacade/long point/20th except IAH.
Everything east of Lockwood/MLK except the Port and Hobby. Ellington field and NASA can be in another city.
De-annex everything south of Belfort and
Everything west of Wilcrest.
Bye bye energy corridor, bye bye empty east side, bye bye low density Acres Homes and Trinity Gardens.
Bye Bye Kingwood.
This still leaves about 1.8M people in less than 200 SQ miles
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