Fairfax County to become a city? (Richmond, Arlington: unemployment, tax, nightlife)

[dkf747]

I don't like this idea. Imagine if Montgomery and PG did the same. Then you would have 3 big cities surrounding a smaller Washington DC. That doesn't make sense. These are suburbs, not major cities. Maybe localized areas of Fairfax should incorporate into cities? Reston, Burke, Mclean, Springfeild, etc... Why do we need a big county government if the first place? Wouldn't breaking it up be better?

[normie]

Originally Posted by 540_804

Fairfax County's population was estimated at 1,015,032 as of July 2008 (though I've seen estimates as high as 1,077,000). That would place it squarely at number 10 in the country for population ahead of San Jose and behind San Diego, California.

...and make it twice as big as Washington DC (population 591,833). So would this mean that New Fairfax would get top billing over DC?

Or maybe we would start calling them Twin Cities. Like Minneapolis/St. Paul. Which means the new name has to start with the letter A, so we can call the twin cities AC/DC.

[normie]

Originally Posted by normie

...and make it twice as big as Washington DC (population 591,833). So would this mean that New Fairfax would get top billing over DC?

Or maybe we would start calling them Twin Cities. Like Minneapolis/St. Paul. Which means the new name has to start with the letter A, so we can call the twin cities AC/DC.

Just off the top of my head, the A.C. city name could stand for:

Assessment City (that's what it's all about, might as well have an honest name)
Affluent City
Angrydrivers City
Absurdincorporation City

[normie]

Originally Posted by Stephen 81

I like the name Avon, though. We can rename all of the current towns in Fairfax County so that they have -on-Avon at the end, for that added ring of elitism.

If we call it Nova-on-Avon it's almost a palindrome! That could be fun.

[normie]

Or, we could name it after a game show, like Truth or Consequences, NM. After all, this whole incorporation idea is all about playing a political game. I can see it now, Fairfax County becomes Wheel Of Fortune, VA. Why not, after all the name references Fairfax County's traffic and our wealth!

[Stephen 81]

Originally Posted by Alicia Bradley

Just out of curiosity, for those of you who favor Ffx. Co. incorporating - would you actually prefer that to just, say, Reston (or whatever 'census-designated place' or 'unincorporated suburb' within Ffx. Co. you live in) doing so? And, if so, why?

Well, I don't really favor Ffx. Co. incorporating so much as don't see it as a disaster or a misguided attempt by the Board of Supervisors to gain power over "the little folk" in the County.

That said, I don't really like the idea of towns incorporating because most towns in northern Virginia have no real identity whatsoever. As I think you've pointed out, Alicia, most towns here developed as suburbs of Washington, so they don't have any cute little downtown that predates suburban sprawl (Fairfax and Herndon being two of a very small number of exceptions). There's no real cohesive "Burke" or "Chantilly" identity aside from a collection of ZIP codes.

Plus, if CDPs incorporated, some of them would benefit immensely from things they had no part in creating. While I agree that Fairfax County kind of screwed up the development in Tysons making it so transit-unfriendly, the fact is that it's a huge economic engine for the whole metropolitan area. And guess where most of Tysons is technically located? McLean. I grew up in McLean, and don't think it deserves the ability to incorporate and tax the businesses in Tysons so that the wealthy people living there don't have to bother paying property taxes. Parts of the county that are lacking such a commercial tax base, like Huntington (sorry!) or Annandale would have to increase property taxes on households, not businesses. And unfortunately, those are generally the households that can't afford an extra 1 or 2% of their income going to taxation.

Basically, Fairfax County developed as a county, not as a series of towns. We have little strip malls separated by subdivisions, not a Main Street in each CDP. Hell, I've spent more than twenty years here, on and off, and I have no clue where some CDPs begin and end, because they just kind of merge into one another. Our very legitimate problems here stem from a county-based system of government, and I think it'll take a county-based system of government to attempt to fix them.

Plus I don't want McLean to get Tysons

[normie]

Originally Posted by dkf747

I don't like this idea. Imagine if Montgomery and PG did the same. Then you would have 3 big cities surrounding a smaller Washington DC.

Five cities bigger than DC, if Loudoun and Prince Georges went that route, too.

[Fairfax Mom]

Who was Fairfax, BTW? Not up on my history.

[car54]

Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron (1693-1781). He was the only member of British nobility ever to reside in the Colonies.

He was the first to ask the now famous question: "Why are people in NOVA so unfriendly?".

[Denton56]

Originally Posted by car54

Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron (1693-1781). He was the only member of British nobility ever to reside in the Colonies.

He was the first to ask the now famous question: "Why are people in NOVA so unfriendly?".

Hilarious!!!