Municipal consolidation

Is always an issue, especially in regions that are shrinking. Indianapolis is a case where the "center city" has grown and continues to improve as a result of the rebalancing of revenues and services as a result of the consolidation of the city and county many years ago.

Louisville Kentucky is a more recent example. And the Brookings Institution produced a report some years back about the Pittsburgh region and the almost 300 different political subdivisions and districts and municipalities in Allegheny County.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer has been running a series on the issue, first a series called "A Region Divided" and now they are focusing on "A Region Uniting?" All the stories are archived, the current story is on Louisville.

In growing regions, it's unlikely that consolidation efforts will be brought up, because the money exists to support "separatism" and better services for more exclusive localities. (This is discussed in Urban Fortunes.)

Over the past few years, the Atlanta region is experiencing some creation of new municipalities out of counties.

And a charter reform effort in Los Angeles staved off the secession movement in San Fernando Valley. See this H-Net review of The City at Stake: Secession, Reform, and the Battle for Los Angeles.

In 1953 a Metropolitan level of government was created for Toronto, but this was abolished in 1998. Of course, a consolidated New York City was created in 1898, out of the City of Brooklyn (King's County), Queens County, Staten Island (Richmond County), the Bronx, and Manhattan (New York County). I'm not sure Brooklyn benefited from that one... after watching part of the HBO Show, "The Brooklyn Dodgers: The Ghosts of Flatbush," which is an excellent discussion of how demographic, economic, and political forces came together to propel the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles.

Speaking of "Metro" government, the Portland Oregon region has a Metro Regional Government, with popularly elected officials.