Why is Arlington a county and not a city?

[robbobobbo]

Originally Posted by TyBrGr

Boboboobob or whatever your name is. yeah obviously Alexandria is bigger than Old Town. I do live in Arlington currently. It was just an example.

Well, TieBerrrGerr or whatever (since copying and pasting is too hard or else attempts at humorous name-mangling are harder), what about addressing the question about why you think Alexandria would be amenable to a merger with Arlington?

[JD984]

It seems like some urbanists (or maybe people who just like squares) would like to see DC and the surrounding jurisdictions form a regional government, or see Arlington made part of the District again, or see Arlington or Fairfax incorporate as cities. Yet other people who live in the larger jurisdictions like Fairfax and Montgomery often suggest the counties are too big and things would work better if, for example, Fairfax was broken into sub-parts (so that, for example, snow on the ground in Clifton wouldn't keep kids from going to school in Falls Church).

Bottom line, of course, is that I wouldn't hold my breathe waiting for any of this to happen.

[Carlingtonian]

Originally Posted by Bigfoot424

No it wouldn't. Arlington will never see the corruption that DC sees on a regular basis.

Maybe not the blatant, stupid graft that DC seems to revel in, but we do have the infamous $1 million bus stop, a failling arts center costing over $2 million, a planned swimming pool that's supposed to cost $4.3 million, a new $5 million homeless shelter to be built on some of the most prime land in the County--and all the while, the schools are packed, the roads full of potholes, and our taxes (both the rate and the assessments) keep going up year after year.

On top of all this, the Board wants to build a trolley to run down Columbia Pike (blocking traffic and costing many more millions).

So we have a Board that wantonly spends money, never puts major projects to a specific referendum (just "$X Million for Parks" or the like), and starves basic services like schools, roads, and park maintenance--while approving almost any proposed project so long it increases density and the developer contributes money to an affordable housing slush fund.

Do I have evidence that someone is pocketing money for political favors? No. But it seems to many in Arlington that the Board ignores the wishes of most of the electorate in order to push its own priorities.

[Bigfoot424]

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

Maybe not the blatant, stupid graft that DC seems to revel in, but we do have the infamous $1 million bus stop, a failling arts center costing over $2 million, a planned swimming pool that's supposed to cost $4.3 million, a new $5 million homeless shelter to be built on some of the most prime land in the County--and all the while, the schools are packed, the roads full of potholes, and our taxes (both the rate and the assessments) keep going up year after year.

On top of all this, the Board wants to build a trolley to run down Columbia Pike (blocking traffic and costing many more millions).

So we have a Board that wantonly spends money, never puts major projects to a specific referendum (just "$X Million for Parks" or the like), and starves basic services like schools, roads, and park maintenance--while approving almost any proposed project so long it increases density and the developer contributes money to an affordable housing slush fund.

Do I have evidence that someone is pocketing money for political favors? No. But it seems to many in Arlington that the Board ignores the wishes of most of the electorate in order to push its own priorities.

Yeah but do you have a crack smoking mayor?

[Carlingtonian]

Originally Posted by Bigfoot424

Yeah but do you have a crack smoking mayor?

Give us time!

[Fundman]

This thread sure went off the rails. As one person noted, in Virginia the main difference between a city and a county is that VDOT is supposed to maintain the roads in counties. But Arlington is already paying for road maintenance like a city so it is basically a city in all but name. For some reason the elected officials would prefer to remain a county.

[stpickrell]

There is a moratorium on towns becoming independent cities for fear of a repeat of annexation arguments that were rife around Tidewater in the 50s and 60s when the modern cities emerged and around Richmond in the 1970s, when Richmond City sought to annex areas of Henrico and Chesterfield Counties to stem White flight.

Some larger towns such as Leesburg and Blacksburg occasionally make noise about seeking city status -- I know Blacksburg signed an agreement a few years ago with Montgomery County VA to stop pushing in that direction for a while.

A few smaller cities, like Clifton Forge, Emporia, and Bedford, have decided it's not worthwhile to go it alone any more and have reverted to town status. Manassas Park City (the last independent city to form) is in serious financial trouble and may revert. I'm sure there's a few other smaller cities that might revert too.

[CrystalCities]

Originally Posted by stpickrell

There is a moratorium on towns becoming independent cities for fear of a repeat of annexation arguments that were rife around Tidewater in the 50s and 60s when the modern cities emerged and around Richmond in the 1970s, when Richmond City sought to annex areas of Henrico and Chesterfield Counties to stem White flight.

Some larger towns such as Leesburg and Blacksburg occasionally make noise about seeking city status -- I know Blacksburg signed an agreement a few years ago with Montgomery County VA to stop pushing in that direction for a while.

A few smaller cities, like Clifton Forge, Emporia, and Bedford, have decided it's not worthwhile to go it alone any more and have reverted to town status. Manassas Park City (the last independent city to form) is in serious financial trouble and may revert. I'm sure there's a few other smaller cities that might revert too.

To think, if Richmond had had the ability to annex local areas like cities do in the sunbelt (Houston, Atlanta, Dallas, etc), the city might not look so paltry in comparison to many of those places these days. It's hard for outsiders to wrap their heads around DC being so small with such a small population. When non-locals look at a place like Arlington, Alexandria, Silver spring etc, they seem to have a hard time conceptualizing that they're not the "suburbs" in the same sense that Marietta Georgia is the suburbs of Atlanta (and 30 miles away). If you measured the distance between the Capitol and Arlington/Alexandria/Silver Spring lines, you'd still have another 10+ miles as the crow flies to before hitting another city's borders like Houston .

I guess that sort of behavior isn't even limited to sunbelt cities, look at LA and San Diego too! If Richmond used their tactics, it would only be 20 miles from Charlottesville!