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Annexation is defined as the permanent acquisition and incorporation of some territorial entity into another geo-political entity.
What communities would you want the city you live in to annex if any?
For example, New Jersey's cities are extremely small geographically and it's pretty common for several tiny municipalities each with their own police department, schools, etc. to exist right next to each other. A lot of people are in favor of consolidation in order to increase efficiency.
Here in Pittsburgh, the city government has as much responsibility as it can handle ruling over the modest sized area it has right now.
Annexing neighboring municipalities would be a task beyond their paygrade- Pennsylvania law wouldn't allow it anyhow without their consent which isn't going to be given.
Annexation is not the same thing as consolidation, is it?
Annexation usually means a municipal government taking over unincorporated land. Consolidation is when multiple municipal governments merge to form a single one. However, if a large municipality "consolidates" with a small one (as is occasionally suggested about Essex and Hudson counties in NJ, for instance), it might as well be an annexation.
Seattle Should Annex Renton and Sea-Tac/Tukwila Area. It would raise the Population to over 800,000 and place the Airport in City limits and the Main shopping and retail area of the Metro in the city!
In Los Angeles County, annexation means a city absorbing a piece of county land. County land is run by a county supervisor and does not have a local government body.
The street next to my street is a piece of LA County unincorporated area... but the surrounding area is all city land.
I guess what happened was that when the annexation of that general area was called about 50-60 years ago, that particular street voiced against it... because it doesn't make any sense why that street wouldn't be considered for annexation.
My city has awesome city and civil services, so that street is missing out because they have to use County and County contract services. The residents also have to jump through hoops to enroll in my city's highly-regarded public schools.
Where I used to live it was just the opposite. The city had terrible services and schools and the township had great services and schools. I am sure many midwest cities would like to give back land that was annexed.
I would love for Chicago to annex Evanston and Oak Park. Cicero, Berwyn, Skokie, and Forest Park would make sense too. I think Evanston and Oak Park are too rich to be annexed, so I think Cicero would have the best shot of doing it...or maybe something like Skokie.
If all of them were to be annexed, it would add about 350,000 people to the city.
Except Illinois law prohibits cities from annexing separately incorporated areas. I believe Texas does allow it. I doubt Evanston and Oak Park would go for it, even if allowed to keep their schools separate. Incidentally, the County President wants the entire county to be incorporated by some city, but some property is not worth annexation.
Should have done it in the 1980s or earlier if they were going to (and it was never going to happen). Now that the Hudson County waterfront is cleaned up and wealthy and Staten Island hasn't changed much, it'd be a raw deal for NJ.
People talk about annexation and consolidation all the time, but it usually seems like a bad deal for those annexed. At one time maybe it made sense; those in the cities could take advantage of city services (including utilities); nowadays, the targets typically have everything they need. Often an annexation proposal is simply a tax grab by the annexing territory; they see all those wealthy people outside their borders and figure on taking their money to pay for pre-existing expenses.
Consolidation makes more sense in theory, assuming you're consolidating similar entities. But how much does it really save? You need just as many cops on the street, just as many fire department members, just as many teachers and principals. You eliminate a police chief, fire chief, and superintendent (and the same for a few other departments). It's a savings, but not a huge one.
Personally, I think that consolidation, if done a certain way can allow for identity to be kept, along with saving money. For instance, I think that county school districts can work in Upstate NY, but you do it in a way where there are zones. Meaning, say the eastern suburbs of Syracuse includes the East Side of Syracuse and make that a zone within the Onondaga County School System, with an open enrollment option within that zone. Representation could be done in a way similar to the country legislation zones as well, give or take, with 1 superintendent of schools for the county. This is a rough idea, but with some tweaking, I think it could work and lessen the tax burden at the same time.
Boston should definitely consolidate its border with Suffolk County which would add Chelsea, Winthrop and Revere. It should also annex Cambridge, Somerville, Everett, Malden,and Lynn because all of those areas are urban and only add 39.92 square miles to the city.
New city stats for Boston with these places added.
Population: 1,117,409
Area: 88.35
Density: 12,647
Boston should definitely consolidate its border with Suffolk County which would add Chelsea, Winthrop and Revere. It should also annex Cambridge, Somerville, Everett, Malden,and Lynn because all of those areas are urban and only add 39.92 square miles to the city.
New city stats for Boston with these places added.
Population: 1,117,409
Area: 88.35
Density: 12,647
Boston should definitely consolidate its border with Suffolk County which would add Chelsea, Winthrop and Revere. It should also annex Cambridge, Somerville, Everett, Malden,and Lynn because all of those areas are urban and only add 39.92 square miles to the city.
Unless I'm wrong, there's no land connection between Lynn and Revere - Saugus is in the way, which isn't exactly urban.
On the other hand, if you're on a fantasy annexation spree, Brookline seems more obvious. The northern portions of it are unquestionably urban.
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