6 ms·

What stood out to me was this: "By a 27-5 vote". That number seemed really high, so I looked it up - this isn't a city or a county or some kind of private tax

What stood out to me was this: "By a 27-5 vote". That number seemed really high, so I looked it up - this isn't a city or a county or some kind of private tax distict - its was the nation's first city-county government. "The Metropolitan Council is the legislative authority of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, the nation’s first, fully consolidated city-county government, established in 1963. The Vice Mayor serves as the president of the Council, which is comprised of 35 district members and five members serving at-large." https://www.nashville.gov/departments/council https://www.nashville.gov/departments/council

iamdelirium 1mo ago
This isn't true? San Francisco is consolidated in 1856 and according to Wikipedia, a century before Nashville (1963). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco#cite_note-Coy_1919_409-19 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco#cite_note-Coy_19... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nashville,_Tennessee https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nashville,_Tennessee
- phire 1mo ago
  I think they are claiming it was the first merger of a multiple cities and a county. Rather than something that was originally created a merged county/city (like San Francisco) or a merger where the city/county boundaries were already identical (like Philadelphia and Philadelphia County) Which might be true? But it's a really hyper-specific claim that's far less impressive than it first sounds.
  - ProllyInfamous 1mo ago
    The craziest thing about Metro Nashville (the city/county entity we are discussing) is that the wealthiest enclaves (independent cities) voted to retain certain city-powers (because of course they did!) – mostly Southern Davidson County, as you approach WilCo/Franklin.
mixdup 1mo ago
>this isn't a city or a county Yes it is, it's both of those things. Consolidated city/county governments are not a weird oddity that no one knows how to handle, they're not super common but they're not governmental arrangements from Neptune, either
- annzabelle 1mo ago
  Coming from the state of Virginia, I might say that they're a perfectly standard way to govern.
  - mixdup 1mo ago
    VA independent cities aren't that, though. They're what they say on the tin: Cities without a county, they're not a nominal county and city both existing on paper but governed as one
- fred_is_fred 1mo ago
  Perhaps not from Neptune, but they don't exist in any of the 3 states I have lived in - so I was surprised.
Zafira 1mo ago
> [T]he nation’s first, fully consolidated city-county government. This feels really tortured. Their argument is that they can say this because “Metropolitan government is a consolidation of two governments rather than the county taking over the city or the city taking over the county government.” But, multiple cities have consolidated city/county governments. San Francisco is one such example.
gs17 1mo ago
Yes, Nashville has a huge number of council members, and it's much better that way. I moved from there to Seattle, and there's 9 council members (7 districts + 2 city-wide) here so we share a representative with a huge area (six times the people and two and a half times the land) and our local concerns have no voice.

iamdelirium 1mo ago

This isn't true? San Francisco is consolidated in 1856 and according to Wikipedia, a century before Nashville (1963). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco#cite_note-Coy_1919_409-19 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco#cite_note-Coy_19... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nashville,_Tennessee https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nashville,_Tennessee

phire 1mo ago
I think they are claiming it was the first merger of a multiple cities and a county. Rather than something that was originally created a merged county/city (like San Francisco) or a merger where the city/county boundaries were already identical (like Philadelphia and Philadelphia County) Which might be true? But it's a really hyper-specific claim that's far less impressive than it first sounds.
- ProllyInfamous 1mo ago
  The craziest thing about Metro Nashville (the city/county entity we are discussing) is that the wealthiest enclaves (independent cities) voted to retain certain city-powers (because of course they did!) – mostly Southern Davidson County, as you approach WilCo/Franklin.

mixdup 1mo ago

>this isn't a city or a county Yes it is, it's both of those things. Consolidated city/county governments are not a weird oddity that no one knows how to handle, they're not super common but they're not governmental arrangements from Neptune, either

annzabelle 1mo ago
Coming from the state of Virginia, I might say that they're a perfectly standard way to govern.
- mixdup 1mo ago
  VA independent cities aren't that, though. They're what they say on the tin: Cities without a county, they're not a nominal county and city both existing on paper but governed as one
fred_is_fred 1mo ago
Perhaps not from Neptune, but they don't exist in any of the 3 states I have lived in - so I was surprised.

Zafira 1mo ago

> [T]he nation’s first, fully consolidated city-county government. This feels really tortured. Their argument is that they can say this because “Metropolitan government is a consolidation of two governments rather than the county taking over the city or the city taking over the county government.” But, multiple cities have consolidated city/county governments. San Francisco is one such example.

gs17 1mo ago

Yes, Nashville has a huge number of council members, and it's much better that way. I moved from there to Seattle, and there's 9 council members (7 districts + 2 city-wide) here so we share a representative with a huge area (six times the people and two and a half times the land) and our local concerns have no voice.