First there was the family, Mother and her children. Then in
some cultures the dad and other relatives became part of the extended
family. This got larger and became a
tribe. Many tribes merged into a
clan. Then things got complicated, some
tribes and clans merged into nations.
Other tribes formed cities. The
large cities conquered surrounding territory and became city states, often with
extensive territories, empires.
Eventually modern nations, with subdivisions called states,
provinces, counties and cities evolved. Unfortunately the boundaries of these
subdivisions have become in many ways obsolete.
Cities on opposite banks of a river may be in different states, but have
more in common with one another than they do with their home state. Suburban residents outside a city may make
more use of some city services: libraries, museums, colleges than residents
within. Some cities require critical
employees to live within, even though this may be a financial or cultural
hardship. It may deprive the city of the
best candidate for some jobs, like teachers and police officers.
Many cities have learned to blur the lines to improve
services. Port districts manage the
entire waterfront of multiple cities.
Many utilities are based on topographic boundaries rather than
political, and some school districts are based on demographic boundaries. Regional transportation has largely replaced
municipal.
Unfortunately some cities, like Detroit, appear to be locked
into the city state mentality and try to be everything to everyone within the
arbitrary (historic) boundary, while at the same time supporting services that
benefit non-residents more than taxpayers.
With today’s information technology there is no reason for all city
services to have the same boundaries. A
separate service district for each service can be designed and managed to
maximize efficiency, within much larger boundaries, such as county or
state. This of course might make mayors
and city councils obsolete, but I can live with that.
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