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My pick for New York is similar with a few differences.
1. Fairfield County - first and foremost to bring back some of the wealth of former New York businesses now in Stamford and also the wealth of Fairfield County.
2. Berkshire County - beautiful county right on the border. Might as well liberate it from Boston.
3. Bergen County -To get more control over the Hudson River. Also Bergen is a wealthy county in its own right (imagine Bergen, Westchester and Fairfield in one state!).
4. Hudson County - again more control over the Hudson, this time directly across the river from downtown and midtown Manhattan. Only problem is that Hudson might become the sixth borough and the last thing New York State needs is a even larger New York City to further unbalance the politics.
5. Regional Municipality of Niagara - to get control over both sides of the Niagara River and Falls.
Good list......I thought about Fairfield County, Hudson County and Bergen County, but also thought about Passaic and Essex counties in NJ(Essex doesn't touch NY in terms of land, but still...). Chittenden County VT may be a wild card, as it would just about give the state all of Lake Champlain.
The state shape would look pretty odd, but for SC, I would take:
Chatham County, GA - Savannah would be a good compliment to Charleston and Beaufort, and would add another 285,000 people to the state, and more coastline.
Brunswick County, NC - it's Myrtle Beach metro and would further extend our coastline, and add 127,000 people, though many of them are probably old.
Gaston County, NC - it would add Gastonia and 216,000 people. I initially put Augusta/Richmond County GA, but it's not growing and Gaston has more going for it and I feel has more in common already with SC.
Mecklenberg County, NC - yes, I'd take Charlotte and it's 1 million plus people. Charlotte would be gains for the SC economy, GDP, wealth, infrastructure and tax base, and would finally give us pro sports teams lol.
Cabarrus County, NC - it's not touching SC, but it's touching Mecklenberg. Cabarrus is growing and would add Concord and Kannapolis, and Concord Mills, NASCAR, and Great Wolf Lodge to SC's tourism portfolio and tax base.
That's a gain of 1.866 million people, pushing SC's population to 6.8 million and up at least 10 spots.
Location: Watching half my country turn into Gilead
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For Delaware, I'd add
Chester County, PA: It was between Chester and Delaware County (Delco), but I'll go with Chester, since its the richest county in PA (as it has much of the Main Line). Plus, it shares more of the Brandywine Valley with Northern Delaware and is more connected via US 202/52 then Delco is via US 13/I-95. That adds 516,312 people and a ton of beautiful, rolling hills and lush valleys.
(Edit) Delaware County, PA: Didn't realize this was for five counties. Well then, come on in Delco! Adds the rest of the Main Line, a ton of refineries and nice towns like Media. 563,402 added.
Salem County, NJ: Already a part of the Wilmington Metropolitan Division, Salem County doesn't add much, but I'll take it for the nuclear power plants, the other side of the Delaware Memorial Bridge and to settle the Artificial Island/Finns Point split. This adds a declining population of 63,436.
Cecil County, MD: Another part of the Wilmington Metropolitan Division, Cecil County gives Delaware complete control of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. It also gives access to the Susquehanna River and nice towns like Chesapeake City. Adds 102,603 people.
Worcester County, MD: Gives us Ocean City, MD. Enough said. 51,444 people are also added, along with most of Assateague Island.
All told, that gives Delaware an additional 1,297,197 people, boosting the population from 952,065 to 2,249,262 and vaulting the state up from 45th to 36th. It also adds even more fishing, beach and boating access, while also giving the state a new high point in 1071 ft, over double the current high point of Ebright Azimuth. Not going to do the calculations, but I'm fairly sure adding these counties would also make Delaware a top 5 state in per capita wealth, if not the top.
St. Louis City, Missouri
St. Louis County, Missouri
St. Charles County, Missouri
Jefferson County, Missouri
Lake County, Indiana
I'm adding the majority of metro St. Louis to Illinois for a few reasons. First, St. Louis would likely see better policies under Illinois than Missouri. For all of Illinois' financial woes, its politicians are more so focused on cities rather than rural areas. St. Louis has been suffering for ages with Missouri's rural interest dominated legislature. Second, bringing St. Louis over to Illinois would unify the split metro area, as the Mississippi is currently serving as the state line. Third, metro St. Louis would be able to help serve as a counterweight to Chicago's dominance. St. Louis is obviously far smaller than Chicago, but there's no other metro region in Illinois that can compete with St. Louis' size, let alone Chicago's. It would do a far better job than what Illinois' cities have been able to do thus far.
As for Lake County, Indiana, I decided bringing it in so it could help better unify Chicagoland. It's not the most desirable area, but it could help bring additional focus to northwest Indiana that's currently sparse. When Chicagoans talk about their suburbs, Indiana, which actually borders the South Side, is almost never mentioned.
If I were in Illinois, I'd take:
1) Kenosha
2) Racine
3) Milwaukee
4) Saint Louis city
5) Saint Louis County
If I were in Illinois, I'd take:
1) Kenosha
2) Racine
3) Milwaukee
4) Saint Louis city
5) Saint Louis County
Are Jefferson+Saint Charles+Lake > Milwaukee?
Jefferson, St. Charles, and Lake come out to about 1.1 million people to Kenosha, Racine, and Milwaukee's 1.315 million. In a perfect world I'd substitute Milwaukee for Lake County, but you can't get it to without Racine and Kenosha. Jefferson and St. Charles also fill out metro St. Louis, and St. Charles is also a rapidly growing county. I think the addition of metro St. Louis would help the state more than continuing to make Illinois' population so focused on its northeastern corner.
Lake County, IL
Cook County, IL
DuPage County, IL (don't even need it)
Dakota County, MN
Hennepin County, MN
The new populations are:
Wisconsin 14 million
Illinois 6 million
Minnesota 4 million
The Wisconsin pro sports teams are:
Green Bay Packers
Chicago Bears
Minnesota Vikings
Milwaukee Brewers
Chicago Cubs
Chicago White Sox
Minnesota Twins
Milwaukee Bucks
Chicago Bulls
Minnesota Timberwolves
Lake County, IL
Cook County, IL
DuPage County, IL (don't even need it)
Dakota County, MN
Hennepin County, MN
The new populations are:
Wisconsin 14 million
Illinois 6 million
Minnesota 4 million
The Wisconsin pro sports teams are:
Green Bay Packers
Chicago Bears
Minnesota Vikings
Milwaukee Brewers
Chicago Cubs
Chicago White Sox
Minnesota Twins
Milwaukee Bucks
Chicago Bulls
Minnesota Timberwolves
The largest Wisconsin cities are:
Milwaukee
Chicago
Minneapolis
WOW !!!
First off let me say that I did not realize that the Twin Cities were so close to the Wisconsin border that you can snatch key counties from them LOL. Good catch.
But all those sports teams in one state would be amazing. So would the cities. Great choices.
Good list......I thought about Fairfield County, Hudson County and Bergen County, but also thought about Passaic and Essex counties in NJ(Essex doesn't touch NY in terms of land, but still...). Chittenden County VT may be a wild card, as it would just about give the state all of Lake Champlain.
If New York took Chittenden County from Vermont, we would get the fair city of Burlington. But New York hardly needs more cities and if you want more cities there are juicer and bigger choices. Not to mention that Chittenden is across Lake Champlain and sort of sticks out into the rest of Vermont. If you really want a county from Vermont, I would suggest Bennington is better located.
But in any case, the problem with taking counties from Vermont is that these people have a tendency to rebel and revolt. Or is it that they are revolting? I forget but New York should have learned its lesson 200 years ago, leave Vermont alone!
Location: Watching half my country turn into Gilead
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Buckeye614
Must have had a mental lapse. Kings County and Queens County don't border NJ
Not physically, but they do share water borders.
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