Metro Merger Madness?

Neal Peirce reviews the wave of city-county mergers.

1 minute read

April 27, 2004, 10:00 AM PDT

By Abhijeet Chavan @http://twitter.com/legalaidtech


"Could America be ready for a wave of city-county consolidations? Until this year, it would have seemed madness to suggest so...But rub your eyes and catch what's occurring at this very moment...Bad times are the mother of necessity, driving Frostbelt regions to consider bold new steps...Merger efforts do face enormous obstacles. Will privileged suburbs react viscerally in opposition? What to do about an older center city's debts, pension liabilities and labor agreements? Will African-Americans, their numbers often concentrated within historic city limits, fear loss of electoral clout?"

Thanks to Abhijeet Chavan

Sunday, April 18, 2004 in The Washington Post Writers Group

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