On Wed, 07 Nov 2001 01:56:33 +0000, you wrote:

>andrew
>this is actually quite an extraordinary nicety
>
>until you mentioned the peculiar power of independent cities to slurp up
>adjacent lands
>i had imagined independent cities were just another rather ordinary variant
>on the basic county idea
>no odder as tertiary entities that parishes in la or boroughs in ak
>
>i mean
>apart from the fact that they could coexist with counties in 4 odd states
>
>but this is a whole nother dynamic
>
>so if or whenever you can elaborate further here as well
>please do
>
>m
>

I do not know much more, it is something I have wanted to research but
have had the time. One this that I do know is that Virginia is a
commonwealth * not a state (4 states are like this: Virginia,
Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Kentucky) which means the basis of
the state and government is different.

My feeling is that cities have a slightly higher status than counties
and have the power (with the approval of the legislature) to take over
land to be self-sufficient or improve their situation. I hope to do
some further research later.

* This not to be confused with the commonwealth status of Puerto Rico
and Northern Mariana Islands which is completely different.

-Andrew

--
Andrew T. Patton WWW: http://www.AndrewPatton.com
Fairfax, VA, USA E-Mail: andrew@...