Are you in favor of absorbing VA independent cities?

[iceman]

Are you in favor of absorbing the Virginia independent cities back to it's original counties for aesthetic purposes in the map? The counties and city map of Virginia is among the most complex in the country.

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

Yes. 100%. And then merge some of the counties like this, because no state should have more than 100.

[iceman]

I'd say for me, it is better if the cities were absorbed to their original counties. There would be 4 additional counties in my map: Alexandria county, Suffolk county, Chesapeake county and Princess Anne county.

Chesapeake county would be composed of the cities of Chesapeake and Portsmouth
Princess Anne county would be composed of Virginia Beach and Norfolk
York county would absorb Newport News, Hampton and Poquoson
Prince George county would absorb Colonial Heights, Hopewell and Petersburg
While Richmond City is returned to Henrico county.

a Total of 99 counties.

[Left Wing]

Amherst county should absolutely absorb Lynchburg.

[iceman]

Amherst county should absolutely absorb Lynchburg.

I kinda thought Lynchburg was part of Campbell before.

[Battista Minola 1616]

It depends. Some should go, but there are others I like as they are (e.g. Lynchburg).

[bagelman]

I'm in favor of doing what the people who live in the independent cities and potentially absorbing counties want, even if it is annoying to us political cartographers.

However if I had to choose for them, I would get rid of the tiny ones (Falls Church, Lexington) and those that clearly belong inside a county (Charlottesville, Williamsburg, Bristol).

[America Needs a 13-6 Progressive SCOTUS]

Most of them, yes. How about this map:



Most independent cities were simply merged into a County, but Galax City was split in 2 in the process.

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

Most of them, yes. How about this map:



Most independent cities were simply merged into a County, but Galax City was split in 2 in the process.

I really don't get the point of keeping Fairfax/Falls Church/Arlington/Alexandria, Richmond/Chesterfield/Henrico, York/Newport News/Hampton/Poquoson, and Norfolk/Chesapeake/Virginia Beach/Portsmouth separate. Area-wise, they aren't any larger than similar counties like Montgomery, MD; Prince George's, MD; Lancaster, PA; or Wake, NC. Population-wise, they're still much smaller than many metropolitan counties. Even combined Fairfax is well below 2 million people.

[muon2]

It seems like the VA constitution sets up independent cities much the way other states set up home rule cities, with the exception that in VA the city is not subject to the county, except that smaller cities rely on some of the county court function. Cities also assume more road powers since the state tends to maintain all the secondary roads in the counties. Removing the independent cities would cause a great deal of fiscal confusion in the state and counties without major statutory changes.

The best parallel might be AK. Boroughs act like counties, but much of the state's land is unorganized. AK allows unorganized areas to petition to become boroughs. Cities can also petition to become consolidated city-boroughs, independent of the areas around them. 7 of the 19 boroughs are city-boroughs.

[iceman]

If you absorb Petersburg, Hopewell and Colonial heights in Prince George county, it will actually turn blue. Same with York if you combine it with Hampton, Newport News and Poquoson.

[Sol]

In most cases no. However, I would support merging:

-Colonial Heights, Hopewell, and Prince George County into the city of Petersburg
-Hanover, Henrico, and Chesterfield into the city of Richmond
-Then, merge Petersburg and Richmond into the unified city of Richmond-Petersburg, with the former units remaining as Boroughs a la Manhattan or Brooklyn.
-Newport News, Hampton, Poquoson, Portsmouth, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Suffolk, York, Williamsburg, and James City into the city of Norfolk.
-Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church, Fairfax City, Fairfax County, Loudon, Manassas, Manassas Park, Prince William, Stafford, Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, Fauquier, Warren, Winchester, Winchester City, and Clarke merge into the city of South Washington.
-Salem and Roanoke County merge into Roanoke City.

And then pass a constitutional amendment to eternally prohibit the creation of these former "cities."