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For all the talk about annexation in NC and the expansive nature of cities like Raleigh, Charlotte, Greensboro, Durham and the like -- which have been able to grow easily, unlike places like Richmond and Orlando where poorer, core cities are surrounded by wealthier suburbs -- there's not as much attention paid to selective underannexation, where cities choose to avoid annexing poorer, sometimes high-minority areas.
The Indy has an interesting article on this this week. Not living in Mebane, I'm curious what folks who live there think ... and is this something widely known, known but not acknowledged, or do you think not the case?
Quote:
For example, Mebane has annexed suburban neighborhoods that include more affluent housing (and a golf course/ residency) while not annexing adjoining neighborhoods. And Mebane can reasonably argue that incorporating wealthy areas increases its tax base, while poor neighborhoods would only be a drain on services, a perfectly sensible rationale, on its face, for selective incorporation.
The best example of this was a neighborhood where I lived in Miami. It was about four or so blocks square, and contained older two-story apartment buildings that had later converted to condos. At one point, there was a low-income building on one block in the neighborhood, but it was torn down years ago. This little neighborhood was surrounded on all sides by three different incorporated "cities" that were all quite wealthy and prestigious. My neighborhood was (and presumably still is, probably due to the affordably priced condos) considered unincorporated county land, even though it was just as good a location, and just as attractive looking as the surrounding incorporated neighborhoods. None of the surrounding cities wanted it, and it was an obvious doughnut hole. When I had the misfortune of having an accident in this area, one of the city police officers from an adjacent city arrived first, but told us we had to wait for a county officer to show up.
Where are the doughnut holes in the Triangle? I thought I had heard about one somewhere in Raleigh, but I don't remember where it was.
I am curious -- Why would a rational voter in a richer jurisdiction support annexation of a poverty pocket? What is the evidence that the motivation to exclude is racial rather than economic? I think that we're thankfully long past this kind of racially motivated behavior, except in the eyes of a few professionals in the grievance industry who earn their livings by trying to fan the flames or sell tabloids.
I am curious -- Why would a rational voter in a richer jurisdiction support annexation of a poverty pocket? What is the evidence that the motivation to exclude is racial rather than economic? I think that we're thankfully long past this kind of racially motivated behavior, except in the eyes of a few professionals in the grievance industry who earn their livings by trying to fan the flames or sell tabloids.
Let's leave the race issue out for a second and look at the economic. The source article note that exclusion from annexation means the non-annexed properties may not be able to get city water/sewer; can't access police services; and may find their properties more likely to become home to landfills and other undesirable services.
On the other hand, the properties can still be subject to extraterritorial jurisdiction for zoning, so a town like Mebane can exercise rights over your property, the article argues, but doesn't give you services for it.
Are we a long way from the days of these things happening? A $300m+ wastewater treatment plant to serve rapidly growing Western Wake was planned for the -- unincorporated, unannexed town, poorer, with a high black population -- community of New Hill. The matter was settled when the Western Wake "partner" cities offered to pay for a community center and other amenities for residents... but is it any wonder New Hill was the target in the first place?
I don't know we've come as far as we'd like to think we have.
Where are the doughnut holes in the Triangle? I thought I had heard about one somewhere in Raleigh, but I don't remember where it was.
My uncle lived in a "Doughnut Hole"--on Creedmoor Road in Raleigh, a stone's throw from Crabtree Valley Mall! He died, and the land was purchased by a private school. I'm sure it's in the city limits now.
Let's leave the race issue out for a second and look at the economic.
Let's leave race out all together. There would be no problem whatsoever annexing a rich pocket that happened to be predominately Black. The issue is economic, not racial.
"We're not discriminating against you because you're Black. We're discriminating against you because you're poor." Clever. Of course, those two have nothing to do with each other.
"We're not discriminating against you because you're Black. We're discriminating against you because you're poor." Clever. Of course, those two have nothing to do with each other.
Wait a second.. are you claiming that there's some sort of correlation between the two in the US?
The NC League of Municipalities proposed some changes to NC annexation laws in 2009 to address these very issues. You can see their recommendations on page 4 and 5 of this report:
Some of the suggestions include incentives for cities to annex low income/distressed communities by giving priorities on state grants and CDBG funds. I think that could go a long way, but it still puts a lot of pressure on the city to carry the process through. Another proposed change is to not allow highways and roads to count toward the contiguity requirement, a phenomenon you can see when looking at any city's map of its boundaries.
Of course, none of these proposals have been implemented. Instead, the state house and senate want to do away with city-initiated annexation altogether. This would have terrible consequences, but I'll hold off on that because its not the topic of this thread.
Last edited by peperoberto; 05-26-2011 at 08:15 AM..
Transplant -- You're exactly right. The two have nothing to do with each other when it comes to the ability to pay taxes in exchange for municipal services. Let's see some evidence to the contrary beyond a snarky, sarcastic comment.
Peper -- By the way, many, many other factors correlate strongly with poverty besides race. Have you ever been to Appalachia? Have you ever been to up-state Maine? Have you ever been to Carrboro (sorry, I couldn't resist)?
Last edited by Hamish Forbes; 05-26-2011 at 08:24 AM..
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