Boston Annexations

The closest modern example of a similar consolidation of existing urban areas (as opposed to a southern style "hey lets annex all that empty surrounding land so we can be 'world class' big") that I recall is Toronto: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amalgamation_of_Toronto

It would be a real treat trying to deal with the police and fire unions across the new megalopolis. Each would want its benefits raised to the highest numbers paid by any of the amalgamated municipalities.
 
What happened in Toronto is the same thing (city-county consolidation) that happened here in Indianapolis, Nashville and Jacksonville 1970ish and Louisville 2000ish - the UK has created many "metropolitan counties" in recent decades too - none of these have been exercises in dick helicoptering as far as i know, more to soothe taxpayers bitching about redundant bureaucracies.
 
autunaeum said:
I've always wondered what would have happened if Brookline town meeting hadn't defeated the annexation referendum. Cambridge and Somerville didn't have the same practical need as the towns that were annexed in the 1870's (in terms of sewers, etc.), so it wouldn't have had the same level of priority. But would there have been a sense of manifest destiny for Boston continuing to expand outward, eating up all the cities and towns in the way? Ultimately, I think continued consolidation would have more in common with that of New York in the 1890's than the wave of annexations in the 1870's (Allston, Brighton, Roxbury, Dorchester, Brookline*, etc.).
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After seeing the reports that the City Manager of Cambridge, Robert Healy is now making more than the Mayor of Boston, more than the Governor of the State of Massachusetts, and almost making as much as President Obama I have lost faith in the Cambridge City Council to properly govern itself. If Boston made a direct offer to annex Cambridge (directly to the city residents) I'd vote in favour without any question. I'd gladly allow them to dissolve the city and send the Cambridge City Council home.

Reportedly if the City Manager of Cambridge retires tomorrow with all of his vacation days, and healthcare package, and all that, the City of Cambridge has to pay him something like $5.0 million dollars.
Either Boston, or allow Somerville to annex Cambridge I'd see who makes a better offer.
 
BostonUrbEx said:
For all talk of annexations of the past or future/dreams.
[ . . . ]
Other than a bigger pool for funding and a more centralized method of urban planning, what other benefits (or disadvantages) would come with annexation? Obviously there's disadvantages for Brookline and Belmont, but I mean for Chelsea, Revere, Malden, Medford, etc...
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It would probably be easier if the state resurrected county government and instead had strong county/weak municipality form of governance. Or if those cities, towns, & villages (municipalities) voted to transfer most of their works divisional powers to the county level. Instead of having 200-300 separate public works for every single municipality in Massachusetts those powers could be conferred upon the mere fourteen counties of the state. How would we get rid of heads of these commissions not favouring their own city/town to get all new sidewalks is besides me.
 
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Saw that making rounds on Twitter. I think it would be better at about 7 or 8 miles, and doesn't need to include every single town the radius skirts through (ie: Quincy/Milton should remain out, Winchester/Stoneham/Melrose should remain out.

That plan is pretty impressive though as we would be ranked something like #4 or #5 by population if it had happened. I wonder what our density would be, though....
 
What other advantages would it offer other than being higher on certain census lists?
 
The whole reason cities went through that wave of annexation was because they had the new infrastructure and the surrounding towns didn't. Today when the state handles the infrastructure the need to annex/be annexed is mostly moot.
 
^ But there are other advantages to annexation (or "amalgamation," to use the trendy term these days). Having a hundred different jurisdictions is inefficient and costly. It also means certain planning initiatives that the state doesn't control can be bogged down in squabbling between towns. It also encourages income segregation which starves poorer parts of the metro of necessary infrastructure and investment.

As far as density goes, I would assume that these towns being part of a greater Boston would have encouraged denser construction in many cases. Look at the difference between Allston-Brighton and Brookline to see what I mean; there were fewer artificial density caps within city limits.
 
True, but the good has to out weigh the bad. I can't see Boston annexing more land these days because the surrounding towns are so built up and used to their autonomy. When cities like Denver grows it's because the small towns are just that, small towns that see a benefit to becoming part of a greater whole. What would Cambridge really gain from joining Boston? (As far as I'm concerned it's Boston that would have more to gain from joining Cambridge).
 
Most people I know in Somerville would strongly resist this idea, because we think our city is better run than Boston is and has a distinctive identity that shouldn't be subsumed in a larger mega-city.
 
vanshnookenraggen said:
What would Cambridge really gain from joining Boston? (As far as I'm concerned it's Boston that would have more to gain from joining Cambridge).
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The ability to vote for a mayor directly! :)


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Still no mayor for Cambridge
By Scott Wachtler/swachtler@wickedlocal.com
Wicked Local Cambridge
Posted Jan 25, 2012 @ 07:00 AM
Last update Jan 25, 2012 @ 06:35 PM

http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/features/x690032800/Still-no-mayor-for-Cambridge

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Twitter users weigh in on Cambridge's inability to pick a mayor
By Scott Wachtler/swachtler@wickedlocal.com
Wicked Local Cambridge
Posted Jan 26, 2012 @ 05:03 PM
Last update Jan 27, 2012 @ 06:01 AM

http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridg...hs-in-on-Cambridges-inability-to-pick-a-mayor

*Also* the ability to do jury duty in nearby Suffolk county instead of all the way up in Woburn now.
 
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