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Old 04-05-2008, 01:21 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh, USA
3,131 posts, read 9,341,755 times
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Merger answers difficult to find
Researchers report mixed results in other city-county consolidations
Merger answers difficult to find

mod cut: text removed

Last edited by scirocco22; 04-07-2008 at 02:52 PM.. Reason: copyright issues
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Old 04-05-2008, 03:16 PM
 
Location: Work is based nationwide
570 posts, read 1,407,419 times
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The Twin City area does have The Metropolitan Council. I have no idea about the smaller communities across the rest of the state. I posted a link about this council in the above posting.
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Old 04-05-2008, 03:37 PM
 
Location: Foot of the Rockies
90,316 posts, read 120,273,714 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RockLobster View Post
The Twin City area does have The Metropolitan Council. I have no idea about the smaller communities across the rest of the state. I posted a link about this council in the above posting.
However, this council does not provide the government, e.g., pass laws, etc. for any of these localities. Mpls/St. Paul does not have a unified city/county governmnet. They are in two different counties as well.

Government and politics in Saint Paul, Minnesota - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Law and government of Minneapolis, Minnesota - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Some large suburbs:

Bloomington, Minnesota - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Burnsville, Minnesota - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Old 04-05-2008, 03:57 PM
 
Location: Foot of the Rockies
90,316 posts, read 120,273,714 times
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Here is a link to the Pennsylvania Councils of Governments:

Pennsylvania Council of Governments (http://www.pacog.com/members.shtml - broken link)
It is interesting to me that there is no Pittsburgh area council of governmnets, though there are some suburban areas that have one, e.g. Turtle Creek area, Upper Beaver Valley, North Hills, etc.

Here is Denver's:

DRCOG - Home
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Old 04-05-2008, 06:40 PM
 
Location: Erie, PA
713 posts, read 1,860,066 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zip95 View Post
A reform charter, on February 2, 1854, brought all the boroughs, townships and districts of the County of Philadelphia within the City of Philadelphia, thus abolishing the patchwork of cities, boroughs, and townships that made up Philadelphia County since its founding.
Regardless of when it occurred, do Pittsburgh and Allegheny Co. really want to turn into something like the city of Philadelphia? Why take a failing government and expand its powers over a larger area, i.e. all of Allegheny Co.?
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Old 04-05-2008, 06:41 PM
 
Location: Erie, PA
713 posts, read 1,860,066 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zip95 View Post

I promise that pigs will fly before suburbanites vote to pay for all those bridges, police, and garbage trucks....And lets not start talking about what will happen to the school systems...... I can see the headlines now,

"Residents rejoice: Mt. Lebo schools are now under the management of the Pittsburgh Public School system"
Precisely my point. Why expand a failed political system over a much larger area?
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Old 04-05-2008, 07:35 PM
 
Location: Foot of the Rockies
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Here is a link to a Wikipedia article about various consolidated governments in the US.

Consolidated city-county - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Denver is one of the communities that is listed there as consolidated from the start, which is true to a point. The City and County of Denver was created out of Arapahoe County in 1901. Prior to that, Denver was a part of Araphahoe Co. In any event, the city/county government provides all the services of both a city and a county. Just what these various services are varies from state to state. The City and County of Denver is 153 sq. miles, of which 52 sq. miles are the airport area. So the actual city is about 100 sq. miles. Allegheny Co., by contrast is 730 sq. miles. I would posit that such a large geographic area would be a nightmare to govern.

The metro Denver area has numerous area-wide tax districts that collect money to provide various services to all the metro residents. Some examples are: football stadium; baseball stadium; Regional Transportation District (RTD) providing bus and light rail transportation; Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD) supporting the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, the major museums, the Denver Zoo, the Denver Botanic Gardens, the Denver Public Library and supporting arts organizations in the suburbs, such as Louisville's own Coal Creek Community Theater, whose productions I have attended. Those are the biggies.

I am not really sure what DRCOG (called Doctor COG) actually does, but I do know the northern suburbs get together to lobby the state legislature for various projects in thier areas. I am more a fan of regional co-operation rather than consolidation in government. I think some of the small communities give the average person a greater say in their local government than a big city does. The bigger the city, the less impact an individual has.
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Old 04-05-2008, 08:41 PM
 
Location: Work is based nationwide
570 posts, read 1,407,419 times
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Default Jurisdiction over 7 counties in the twin city region

[quote=Katiana;3365650]However, this council does not provide the government, e.g., pass laws, etc. for any of these localities. Mpls/St. Paul does not have a unified city/county governmnet. They are in two different counties as well.

The Metro Council in the Twin cities has jurisdiction in the seven county metro area. Council has seventeen members who are appointed by the governor and these members are confirmed by the state senate. Sixteen of these members represent roughly equal population districts.
Basically the role of council members is to provide a regional perspective and work towards a consensus.
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Old 04-06-2008, 07:55 AM
 
Location: Portland, OR
4,275 posts, read 7,603,131 times
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[quote=Katiana;3367260]Here is a link to a Wikipedia article about various consolidated governments in the US.

Consolidated city-county - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

According to Wikipedia, it looks like Pitsburgh has tried this in the past (80 years ago!)
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Old 04-06-2008, 09:43 AM
 
Location: Foot of the Rockies
90,316 posts, read 120,273,714 times
Reputation: 35920
Yes, I saw that. Interesting. I know there is great opposition to merger arrangements of any kind in that area. There are many small school districts that would benefit from merger, IMO, but I remember the broo-ha-ha (sp?) in my hometown when a merger was proposed. You would have thought it would be the end of life as we know it! I am far more in favor of regional co-operation than I am of mergers of governments.
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