What makes a city a city?

[Gaudere]

I'm pretty sure that there are actual demarcations that determine whether any large grouping of people and buildings is called a "city"; something like "if there are more than 500000 people, it is a city." The same for village, town, etc. I know in my area I can see signs for "the village of X" or "the city of Y". I'm thinking there must be official categories for "city", "village", "town", "hamlet" etc. Does anyone know what they are?

Also, I have been told that, archeologically speaking, a city is any town with a wall. Is this correct? Does anyone know the rules for a what makes a town a town in archeologist's eyes?

[Gaudere]

[Aside: this has been asked before, and everyone says "it varies from state to state". However, if anyone knows the categories for their particular state or area, I would be most grateful. And no one's asked the question re archeology, far as I can tell.]

[DonJuanDeMarco3]

If it has a walmart and a McDonalds its a city

[BobT]

In California, a city is a governmental entity established either by a charter from the state government (like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and other cities of comprable size) or an area of a county granted those powers by the county government. There is no minimum requirement, although in California there is a governmental agency called LAFCO (Local Agency Formation Commission I believe) which studies an area's request for incorporation and decides whether or not it is economically feasible.

Also the residents of the area that wants to become a city have to vote to approve it.

The smallest city in California (in terms of population) is Vernon, which has about 80 residents. It's an area that exists primarily to give tax breaks to industries and has a lot of very large warehouses.

In California, I think of it this way. The default setting is "County". A city has to be created.

[omni-not]

Not necessarily a 'nutshell', but it gives you one point of view. Hope this helps.

http://slf.gweep.net/~sfoskett/mqp/mqp_fin2.html

[Tapioca Dextrin]

In Britain, a city has to have a royal charter. What are the benefits of being a city? Apart from having a royal charter to say that you are a city, none at all.

[Jman]

Gaudere...do you live in NY?

Anyway, I live in NY now, and it is odd...I live in the TOWN of Ithaca, but not the CITY of Ithaca...I'm about 1/2 mile outside the city limits. It's odd.

In Ohio, it seems that you just vote on whether or not you want to be a city. But then you need city works, city taxes, etc.

Jman

[doreen]

I think that at least part of the difference between a city, village,hamlet, etc (at least in NY) has to do with the form of local government. I think towns can include villages and cities ( but I'm not sure, because I live in NYC, and everything's different from the rest of the state)

[barbitu8]

Jman, are you sure you don't live in the township of Ithica? Sometimes a township will have the same name as a city in it.

Just avoid all the confusion and use one word: municipality. No matter what the type of municipality it is, it has to be incorporated; i.e., file papers with the secretary of the state and get the state approval to incorporate. I always wondered, too, about the differences between city, town, village, or hamlet. Perhaps any group of home owners in an area can agree to incorporate, if allowed by their state law, and can call their municipality anything they want. They can incorporate as the "town of James Island" or the "city of James Island" as they wish. But I don't know.

[Dr. Lao]

In Wisconsin the difference between a city and a village is the form of government. A city has a mayor and alderpersons/coucilpersons. A village has a village board in which one member is president of the board. Towns encompass everything outside a city or a village. When a city or village incorporates it must annexx land from the town. I'm not sure what the requirements are for city or village formation, but I'm sure that a petition with the state must be filed and approved.

As far as I know, there are no offical definitions for any other municiple descriptions (e.g. hamlet) in Wisconsin.

[stuyguy]

In brief, in NYS you're a city if the NYS legislature says so (that is, grants you a city charter.)

Other details in these two threads:

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=45351

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=10794

[barbitu8]

In SC and also in IL, where I used to live, cities, towns, and villages all must be incorporated. If the area is not incorporated, it is just unincorporated area in the county. The PO address would be the nearest big city. For example, I live in James Island, which is unincorporated. Not the town or village of James Island, but James Island. Our services are provided by a special legislative creation called "a public service district," which is really just an arm of the county. Our PO address is Charleston, SC. We tried to incorporate a few years ago as "the town of James Island," but the city of Charleston objected, as it wanted to annex a lot of the land, and it succeeded in court on technical grounds.

[MysterEcks]

In Pennsylvania, it requires 10,000 residents to be eligible for city-status--I believe a small city is a Class 3. (Supposedly a city that drops under 10,000 for a certain period is stripped of its status, but that doesn't seem to occur in real life.) A chartered city-like municipality that is less than 10,000 residence is a borough. It is not required that a borough with over 10,000 become a city--State College (the municipality attached to Penn State's main campus) is a borough, despite having a population of around 40,000.

The default municipality in Pennsylvania is the township,which is approximately the same as a townin New York State. There can be villageswithin townships. There is one (1) chartered townin PA, though I've forgotten what it is.

In all cases, the classifications (along with options such as home-rule charters) primarily relate to the form of local government each one has, and the authority (and funding) granted by the state. I know of one city (DuBois, in Clearfield County) which became a city primarily because somebody thought the County would move the County Seat there. (They didn't--there was an attack of common sense, and the powers-that-were realized that the seat of Clearfield County should remain in Clearfield.) Just a few years back, the Borough of St. Mary's and Benzinger Township in Elk County merged and became a city, apparently just because it sounded more impressive.



Coming up next week: Why 5th Class Counties have controllers but 6th Class counties have auditors; plus why the City of Philadelphia gets to be Philadelphia County as well.

[barbitu8]

There is some confusion aboutthe term "township." A little history is necessary. Those states that are now in the "Northwest Territory" (i.e., the states east of the Mississippi, N of the Ohio, & west of Pa.) were laid out in 1787 in a grid fashion, with each box in the grid being one mile square. Each of those boxes are called "sections." They were measured from east to west and from north to south. Six sections in each direction, and the measurements were again repeated. The six sections square, or 36 sections are called "townships." Any spot in the NW Territory can be identified by its specific location in a section, township, and range. That is its "legal description." Even subdivisions have a Sec, Twp, & Range. You can't tell that in a big city, like Chicago, since there are no references physically to it. But in rural Illinois, road signs will have the section numbers on it. The "township" lines are the 6 miles measured east to west. The "range" lines are the 6 miles mesaured north to south.

However, now the term "township" may also refer to a political subdivision of a state in some areas of the country. The prior post states that in Pa.it has a definite meaning, defined by statute.

[whitetho]

In North Carolina, there are no formal differences between the powers or organization of a "town" and a "city". I live in the "Town of Cary", which has a population of over 95,000 people. On the other hand, I've driven through a couple of NC "cities" which weren't big enough to have even one traffic light.

[AWB]

In Virginia, if an area incorporates as a city, it is independent of any county; it is basically "divorced" from the county from which it came. It can then set up its own city council and pass its own laws.

However, the county then provides no services for that area: police, trash, etc.

When I moved to Virginia, I called back to Colorado to (I think) un-register my voter registration. The woman in Colorado asked what city I had moved to.

"Alexandria, VA," I replied.
"What county is that in?" she asked.
"No county."
"It has to be in a county, sir."
"Cities are independent from counties in Virginia."
"I have to put in a county, sir. What county surrounds Alexandria?"
I sighed. "Alexandria is between Arlington County, Fairfax County, and the District of Columbia. It's not surrounded by any one county."
"The District of Columbia? What's that?" Oops, I opened a can of worms.
I explained, "DC. As in Washington, DC." Silence. I gave up. "Just put Alexandria in the county blank too."

[Edward The Head]

IIRC in the state of Maryland there has to be 5000 people in order for it to be a city. That comes from a geography class of at least 5-6 years ago though. Plus I think I also saw it as a trivia answer in the newspaper once.

[kabbes]

Originally posted by Colin Wilkinson
In Britain, a city has to have a royal charter. What are the benefits of being a city? Apart from having a royal charter to say that you are a city, none at all.

To expand on this: strictly speaking in Britain there are no pre-requisites to being a city, nothing which guarantees you city status and no way to stop being a city once you are one. This last point means that there are cities dating from Roman times knocking about with 100,000 people or fewer.

"They" are planning to inaugurate another city for the new millenium. Many towns (including Reading and, bizarrely, Croydon) have put their names into the hat. Amusingly Swindon has been told that it can't have city status because it is too brash (or something like that). We'll have to wait and see who wins the coveted approval.

pan

[kabbes]

Sorry: for the pedants that should be:

No pre-requesites.. (etc).. except for the charter.

[Ukulele Ike]

Who was it who said (I'm paraphrasing here) "A city is not to be respected as such unless one may become lost in it."

Ergo, Petaluma is not a city. Chicago is certainly a city.

Knowing the sort of crap I read, it's possible that the quotee was speaking metaphorically.

[barbitu8]

Originally posted by AWB
In Virginia, if an area incorporates as a city, it is independent of any county; it is basically "divorced" from the county from which it came. It can then set up its own city council and pass its own laws.

However, the county then provides no services for that area: police, trash, etc.


This is true of any incorporated municipality in the USA. An unincorporated area is governed by the county and must comply with the buidling regulations, zoning, etc. passed by the county board. Once it is incorporated, it becomes independent of the county and is governed by its own laws. The municipality must then provide the services: police, trash, etc., which the county previously provided.

That doesn't mean, however, that the municipality is not in a county. All states have political subdivisions called "counties," except La., which hearkens to the French system, and has "parishes."

[DSYoungEsq]

In Ohio, here are the rules:

From Ohio Revised Statutes §703.01:
(A) Municipal corporations, which, at the last federal census, had a population of five thousand or more, or five thousand registered resident electors or resident voters as provided in section 703.011 of the Revised Code, are cities. All other municipal corporations are villages. Cities, which, at any federal census, have a population of less than five thousand, shall become villages. Villages, which, at any federal census, have a population of five thousand or more, shall become cities.
From Ohio Revised Statutes §707.02: {regarding the requirements for a petition to incorporate a municiple corporation as a village under §707.01}
(C) A statement that the area consists of not less than two square miles, includes a population of not less than eight hundred persons per square mile, and has an assessed valuation of real, personal, and public utility property subject, except as otherwise provided in this division, to general property taxation of at least three thousand five hundred dollars per capita. In determining per capita assessed valuation under this division, the assessed valuation of any tangible personal property, buildings, structures, improvements, and fixtures that are exempt from taxation under division (B) of section 5709.081 of the Revised Code shall be added to the assessed valuation of real, personal, and public utility property subject to general property taxation.
From Ohio Revised Statutes §707.29:
(A) Cities may be incorporated in the manner provided in sections 707.29 and 707.30 of the Revised Code. Application for incorporation of a city shall be made by petition addressed to the board of county commissioners. The territory proposed for incorporation as a city shall meet all of the following criteria:

(1) It shall consist of not less than four square miles.

(2) It shall have a population of not less than twenty-five thousand and a population density of at least one thousand persons per square mile.

(3) It shall have an assessed valuation of real, personal, and public utility property subject, except as otherwise provided in division (A)(3) of this section, to general property taxation of at least twenty-five hundred dollars per capita. In determining per capita assessed valuation under division (A)(3) of this section, the assessed valuation of any tangible personal property, buildings, structures, improvements, and fixtures that are exempt from taxation under division (B) of section 5709.081 of the Revised Code shall be added to the assessed valuation of real, personal, and public utility property subject to general property taxation.

(4) It shall not completely surround an existing municipal corporation.

(5) It shall be contiguous.
Thus, in Ohio, you can incorporate as a village or city. To incorporate as a city, you need to have at least 25,000 people in the territory to be incorporated, but if you incorporate as a village, and a later census shows you have more than 5,000 residents, you become a city automatically. Hey, I didn't draft this nonsense. Please don't even get me started on the fact that §703.01 comes under a chapter heading titled: Classification for Mental Plans.

[Random]

I'll answer for Illinois, as that's where Gaudere lives.

Illinois divides its municipalities into cities and villages. There are a few older municipalities which still use the designation of "Town of Whatever" under a charter from prior to 1870, but these are rare. Some of these are actually villages or cities, but retain the old name for reasons of tradition. Townships are something else entirely, as someone else has said, and are not municipalities.

There are more similarities than differences between the two forms. Villages are not necessarily smaller than cities, although newly-forming cities must generally have 2500 residents, and villages need only have 200 residents. There are special rules for Cook County, and people who live in trailers don't count. (I am skipping some details.)

Villages are run by a seven member Village Board, which includes a Village President.


Cities are run by a city council made up of aldermen and a mayor.

There are some other minor differences.

[barbitu8]

Just from the point of accuracy, I erred in a prior post when I said ranges are measured N to S. They are actually measured from S to N. There are also "principal meridians" (lying N&S) and "base lines" (lying E&W). Thus, a legal description will give a section number, twp no., range no., E or W of a principal meridian. By numbering the pm, by fixing the base line, and numbering the sections, twps, and ranges, any tract of land can be described. The Earth being curved, there are also correction lines, and all excess land caused by the curvature are accounted for in section 6, which is in the NW corner of the twp.

[Random]

My post didn't make one point clear enough. There is no automatic change in the form of government if a village grows. There are villages in Illinois that have over 25,000 residents. Villages don't become cities unless the villagers (I love that word - always evokes images of torches and pitchforks) want to make the change.

[Lance Turbo]

e.g. the Village of Lombard (my home town in Illinois, pop 36000 give or take)

[Thrillhouse15]

In Virginia, if an area incorporates as a city, it is independent of any county; it is basically "divorced" from the county from which it came. It can then set up its own city council and pass its own laws.

This is true of any incorporated municipality in the USA. An unincorporated area is governed by the county and must comply with the buidling regulations, zoning, etc. passed by the county board. Once it is incorporated, it becomes independent of the county and is governed by its own laws. The municipality must then provide the services: police, trash, etc., which the county previously provided.

That doesn't mean, however, that the municipality is not in a county. All states have political subdivisions called "counties," except La., which hearkens to the French system, and has "parishes."

I realize this was posted over three years ago, but this is the Straight Dope, and I'd hate for the wrong information to be somewhere on this board.

AWB is right: cities in Virginia are completely divorced from the county that surrounds them. This is different than most other cities in the US. In the rest of the country, a city is within a county, but has its own government and services. But it's still in that county, and shares some things, such as property assessment, and voter registration. In (most of) Missouri, voters in incorporated areas still get to vote for County officials, even the County officials that only have jurisdiction over unincorporated land.

Now in Virginia, for some reason, this is different. Cities have absolutely no relationship to any county. They are, in every way, the same as counties, just with a different name and form of government. When a city incorporates, it might as well physically leave the county altogether.

A couple other examples of this are Carson City, Baltimore and St. Louis. For details on St. Louis City's "Great Divorce" from St. Louis County, check out: http://www.co.st-louis.mo.us/plan/factbook2002/History.pdf

[Walloon]

This is true of any incorporated municipality in the USA. An unincorporated area is governed by the county and must comply with the buidling regulations, zoning, etc. passed by the county board. Once it is incorporated, it becomes independent of the county and is governed by its own laws. The municipality must then provide the services: police, trash, etc., which the county previously provided.Whoa there! False, false, false! At least in Wisconsin. County laws still are in effect for any municipality within a Wisconsin county, even the parts of municipalities that lie in two counties. And residents of all municipalities within a county elect the county board, the county sheriff, and pay county taxes.

As to the original post, the official Wisconsin Blue Book says:Wisconsin's 190 cities and 395 villages are incorporated under general law. . . In general, minimum population for incorporation as a village is 150 residents for an isolated village and 2,500 for a metropolitan village located in a more densely settled area. For cities, the minimums are 1,000 and 5,000, respectively, but an existing village that exceeds 1,000 population may opt for city status. . .

Town governments govern those areas of Wisconsin that are not included inside the corporate boundaries of either a city or village. Wisconsin has 1,265 towns.

[Exapno Mapcase]

Jman, are you sure you don't live in the township of Ithica? Sometimes a township will have the same name as a city in it.
Not in New York State. Counties are divided into towns, not townships. Towns can contain villages, towns, or even cities.

We're not like other states. :(

[desdinova]

Just from the point of accuracy, I erred in a prior post when I said ranges are measured N to S. They are actually measured from S to N. There are also "principal meridians" (lying N&S) and "base lines" (lying E&W). Thus, a legal description will give a section number, twp no., range no., E or W of a principal meridian. By numbering the pm, by fixing the base line, and numbering the sections, twps, and ranges, any tract of land can be described. The Earth being curved, there are also correction lines, and all excess land caused by the curvature are accounted for in section 6, which is in the NW corner of the twp.If anyone is interested in this, it is referred to as the "Public Land Survey System." If you ever wondered "we have subdivisions, but from what are they dividing further?" the answer is the PLSS is usually the original division. This doesn't apply to many parts east of the Mississippi, or most of Texas for that matter.

Here in Oklahoma there are no rules related to population of which I'm aware. There are some pretty tiny towns here that the Census Bureau refers to as "cities." My understanding was always that you got to be called a city here if your community is incorporated, regardless of size or form of government. I used to think that to be called a city you had to have a comprehensive plan, but then I ran into several cities that didn't have one, or any form of zoning ordinances for that matter.

In addition, the only types of communities in Oklahoma are cities or towns (or, I suppose, Census Designated Places but even those communities usually refer to themselves as towns). I have never seen any community ever referred to as a village, and certainly not a borough. I typically just let the Census Bureau determine which communities are which... I'm not aware of any agency that would be able to provide a more definitive answer.

[barbitu8]

If anyone is interested in this, it is referred to as the "Public Land Survey System." If you ever wondered "we have subdivisions, but from what are they dividing further?" the answer is the PLSS is usually the original division. This doesn't apply to many parts east of the Mississippi, or most of Texas for that matter.Since the states in the Northwest Territory all lie east of the Miss (except Minnesota) and since all those states follow the above noted surveying measurements, it does apply to all those states.

Any survey must have a beginning point, but the original 13 colonies were surveyed in irregular pieces. Unsatisfactory and varied systems were the source of much litigation. So by an Act of April 26, 1785, the Continental Congress provided for the survey of all of the public lands by a rectangular system, which I noted previously. The Ordinance of 1785 contemplated this establishment of base lines and principal meridians. As noted previously, Ohio was the first and therefore the experimental survey. Some errors were made.

Whether a municipality can be called a "town," "city," or "village" depends upon state law. I live on James Island, which was unincorporated until recently. Many of the residents here wanted to incorporate to prevent the City of Charleston from annexing further lands. On the ballot for or against incorporation, we had the choice of what to call the new entity, a town, city or village. It depended purely upon what the residents wanted. BTW, the measure passed but the City of Charleston is contesting the legality of it, for reasons not important here, and it has prevailed in the lower courts. It will be decided by the state Supreme Court next month.

[desdinova]

Since the states in the Northwest Territory all lie east of the Miss (except Minnesota) and since all those states follow the above noted surveying measurements, it does apply to all those states.Which is why I used the word "many"...

[Dogface]

In Indiana, the matter is a process.

If a territory within the state is not already part of an incorporated town or city can put together a petition of at least 50 owners of land therein and that the territory is used or will, in the reasonably foreseeable future, be used generally for commercial, industrial, residential, or similar purposes; the territory is reasonably compact and contiguous; there is enough undeveloped land in the territory to permit reasonable growth of the town; and incorporation is in the best interests of the citizens of the territory, then that territory can be incorporated into a town. Note that not more than one person per parcel of land can sign, and no person can count more than once. There are then public hearings and the chance for remonstrance. Other requirements must be met, summarized here: http://www.in.gov/legislative/ic/code/title36/ar5/ch1.html

If a town can get a population of at least 2,000, it can hold a vote to become a "third-class city". A third-class city with a population of at least 35,000 can draft an ordinance to become a "second-class city". A second-class city with a population of at least 250,000 can draft an ordinance to become a "first-class city". Each class has more autonomy and taxation power than the lower class. No city can fall below second-class status once that is attained. First-class status can be lost.

There is one great big exception to all of the above: Indianapolis. Indianapolis is the entirety of Marion County. Their governments were unified and all municipalities therein were annexed to the entity called "Unigov" by state law in 1970. Lawrence, Speedway, Beech Grove, and Southport maintain some autonomy but also fall under Unigov.

[Dogface]

There is some confusion aboutthe term "township." A little history is necessary. Those states that are now in the "Northwest Territory" (i.e., the states east of the Mississippi, N of the Ohio, & west of Pa.) were laid out in 1787 in a grid fashion, with each box in the grid being one mile square. Each of those boxes are called "sections." They were measured from east to west and from north to south. Six sections in each direction, and the measurements were again repeated. The six sections square, or 36 sections are called "townships."


However, now the term "township" may also refer to a political subdivision of a state in some areas of the country. The prior post states that in Pa.it has a definite meaning, defined by statute.

Exactly. And in Indiana, the legal townships do not overlap with the survey townships.

[Dogface]

Jman, are you sure you don't live in the township of Ithica? Sometimes a township will have the same name as a city in it.



No, he lives in the town of Ithaca. For a decade, I lived in the Village of Ithaca, which was part of the City of Ithaca, which was part of the Town of Ithaca. Each had its own damned governmental overlay.

[robby]

In Connecticut (and in Massachusetts and Rhode Island), there is no unincorporated land in the state. Every bit of land lies within a town or a city. Those outside New England would probably equate our towns with "townships," in that they are subdivisons of counties. There is no longer any substantial county government. Government essentially operates only at the federal, state, and municipal level.

Sometimes there are subdivisions within a town, such as villages. For example, the village of Storrs (home of the University of Connecticut) lies within the Town of Mansfield. All municipal functions for Storrs are handled by the Mansfield town government.

If a village gets populous enough, it can turn into a city. A city may or may not take up all of the land of the surrounding town. For example, the City of Groton and the village of Noank both lie within the Town of Groton. Some cities are large enough that there is no surrounding town, such as Norwich, New London, or Hartford.

[DSYoungEsq]

While we are correcting things said many years ago, it might be noted that the impression that the division of the Northwest Territory into townships 6 mi. square, with 36 sections predated the application of the term to older states is incorrect. From Merriam-Webster Online (http://www.m-w.com) we see that the term "township" is from England. It was originally applied in the colonies and the earlier states (states in which land was sold or granted prior to the North West Ordinance, such as Ohio) in a somewhat haphazard fashion, as local sensibilities and dictates decided. In Ohio, townships are unincorporated administrative subdivisions of counties; technically cities are part of townships unless the township and the city agree to divorce each other. They don't have any regularity to their size or shape. Just north of me, across the border up there where them Michiganders live, the roads in the country often do the old "section jog," a ninety degree turn at the junction of section borders, usually follwed by another ninety degree turn the opposite way after 1 mile to continue on in the original direction. In Michigan, the layout of townships and sections described by barbitu8 was imposed.

[Cliffy]

Gaudere...do you live in NY?

Anyway, I live in NY now, and it is odd...I live in the TOWN of Ithaca, but not the CITY of Ithaca...I'm about 1/2 mile outside the city limits. It's odd.

I think I remember when the City of Ithaca was incorporated. I went home for the summer one year, and when I got back there were signs saying Ithaca was a city. Three months later a city cop pulled me over for a moving violation! :mad:

--Cliffy

[barbitu8]

While we are correcting things said many years ago, it might be noted that the impression that the division of the Northwest Territory into townships 6 mi. square, with 36 sections predated the application of the term to older states is incorrect. From Merriam-Webster Online (http://www.m-w.com) we see that the term "township" is from England. It was originally applied in the colonies and the earlier states (states in which land was sold or granted prior to the North West Ordinance, such as Ohio) in a somewhat haphazard fashion, as local sensibilities and dictates decided. The states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota comprised the Northwest Territory, claimed by Virginia and in part by Connecticut, Massachusetts and New york. Massachusetts deeded its western claims to the US in 1785. Some grants were made by Connecticut in northern Ohio, the "Firelands." There were French grants at Vincennes, Indiana, and Kaskasia, Illinois. Virginia also made the George Rogers Clark grants in Indiana and grants to the Ohio Compnay in Ohio. NY, Conn., and Mass. ceded to the US between 1780 and 1800. The principal cession was made by Virginia in 1785. [Source Clark, op.cit..]

[plnnr]

"Now in Virginia, for some reason, this is different. Cities have absolutely no relationship to any county. They are, in every way, the same as counties, just with a different name and form of government. When a city incorporates, it might as well physically leave the county altogether."

You're correc that cities are completely independent political subdivisions here in VA. There are only three forms of municipal government here, and all are independent of each other: counties, towns, and cities. Cities and towns are granted charters by the General Assembly - their powers are explicitly laid out within those charters. Towns and the surrounding counties (the Town of Ashland, which lies within Hanover County, for instance) reach agreements over the provisions of municipal services. Ashland has no police force - it relies on the Hanover County Sheriff's Department for law enforcement, for example.

As to how a County becomes a City, what happens is that the County is granted a charter by the GA and incorporates as a City, it doesn't "leave" the County - the County "becomes" the City. For instance, Princess Anne County became the City of Virginia Beach, and Nansemond County became the City of Suffolk. The boundaries remained the exact same - the only difference was the form of government (from Board of Supervisors with County Administrator to City Council with City Manager).

[trabi]

To expand on this: strictly speaking in Britain there are no pre-requisites to being a city, nothing which guarantees you city status and no way to stop being a city once you are one. This last point means that there are cities dating from Roman times knocking about with 100,000 people or fewer.

"They" are planning to inaugurate another city for the new millenium. Many towns (including Reading and, bizarrely, Croydon) have put their names into the hat. Amusingly Swindon has been told that it can't have city status because it is too brash (or something like that). We'll have to wait and see who wins the coveted approval.

pan

I was always told that to be cities had to have a cathedral, with the exception of Cambrige, for some reason connected with the university there. According to wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_the_United_Kingdom) this is no longer the case, but still a fairly good rule of thumb...

In the UK, city status is not automatically granted to a community meeting any particular criteria. It can only be obtained by receiving a Royal Charter. However some British cities which predate the historical monarchy have been regarded as cities since "time immemorial".

Until the 1880s, a town was usually granted city status if and only if it had a diocesan cathedral within its limits. Nowdays the government holds competitions for city status, with towns submitting applications to the Lord Chancellor, who makes recomendations to the sovereign. These are usually held to mark special events, such as coronations or royal jubilees.



And (from the same source) one of the - relatively dubious - benefits of being a city:

Some cities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have the further distinction of having a Lord Mayor (as opposed to a Mayor). In Scotland the equivalent are Lord Provosts.

[Krokodil]

In Virginia, if an area incorporates as a city, it is independent of any county; it is basically "divorced" from the county from which it came. It can then set up its own city council and pass its own laws.

However, the county then provides no services for that area: police, trash, etc.


That's supposed to be the case, but there are a lot of concessions to practicality. Fairfax County's seat of government is in the City of Fairfax, and the two entities share a lot of services. Ditto for Albemarle County and the City of Charlottesville. And dozens of others where I haven't lived. To muddy the waters further, the city of Alexandria shares a name with a huge chunk of unincorporated Fairfax County; people who I would say are rightly from Groveton or Hybla Valley have "Alexandria" on their driver's license.

I grew up in Reston, which (in the 70s) was organized as a "place" instead of a town. Oh, the possibilities.

[Acsenray]

the city of Alexandria shares a name with a huge chunk of unincorporated Fairfax County; people who I would say are rightly from Groveton or Hybla Valley have "Alexandria" on their driver's license.

Now you're talking postal addresses -- that's a completely different thing. The "city, state" assigned by the U.S. Postal Service need bear no relation to actual jurisdictions created under state law.

[plnnr]

" I grew up in Reston, which (in the 70s) was organized as a "place" instead of a town."

No mystery there - Reston started out as simply a Planned Unit Development (PUD), it was never intended to be a separate political subdivision of the Commonwealth. Reston is just a neighborhood - a very big neighborhood, but just a neighborhood.

As was pointed out, postal addresses have nothing to do with political subdivisions.

[Cliffy]

As to how a County becomes a City, what happens is that the County is granted a charter by the GA and incorporates as a City, it doesn't "leave" the County - the County "becomes" the City.

You may be correct that Princess Anne County became the City of Virginia Beach, but not all cities in VA are former counties -- indeed, most of them aren't. As noted, there is a City of Fairfax which is surrounded by Fairfax County, but has not been part of the county since granted its municipal charter. The City of Alexandria is also mostly surrounded by Fairfax County, but not a part of it.

As to Krokodil's point that cities and counties often share services (both in Virginia and elsewhere), that's certainly correct, but the city has a legal responsibility to provide those services -- if it uses the county's, it's because there's a contract between the two municipalities and the city provides services to its residents by hiring the county, essentially as a vendor.

My (admittedly shaky) understanding is that this is the distinction in Virginia between cities and towns -- cities are required to provide their own services (although as noted, can sometimes do so by contracting with another municipality) while towns, which unlike citites are not legally separate from the county in which they lie, can pick and choose which services they wish to provide and which they'll leave to the county (which then gets a cut of the tax revenue, of course).

IIRC, cities in VA must be over 5,000 people (and towns over 1,000) when they're chartered. However, if a chartered municipality loses its population, it doesn't automatically lose its municipal character, so you could have a city that's smaller than 5,000 as long as it was big enough in the past, when the charter was granted.

--Cliffy

[plnnr]

You're exactly right, not all cities in VA were formerly counties - Virginia Beach and Suffolk are just the most recent examples of where that happened (it doesn't happen very frequently). Norfolk County and the City of South Norfolk consolidated and became the City of Chesapeake as another hybrid example. More infrequently are examples of cities giving up their charters and reverting to town status - I think the City of South Boston was the last one to revert and that was back in 1995 (IIRC). They did it for just the reason you suggest - more efficient use of tax revenue. The City of Winchester (Frederick County) and the City of Charlottesville (Albermarle County) both considered reversion but nothing ever came of it.

According to the Code of VA (Sect. 15.1-792) (which as since been recodifed to Section 15.2-something - I dont 'have my re-codfication handy), the minimum population for a city is 5,000, the minimum population for a town is 1,000.

[barbitu8]

Here in SC we have another political (governmental) entity called a "public service district." It is an arm of the county that provides certain services to the unincorporated areas, such as fire protection, sewerage, garbage pick-up, etc. That part of James Island which was not annexed by the city of Charleston (and is now, at least provisionally, a town), would have to provide now for its own services. However, the James Island Public Service District has agreed to provide the same services -- for a fee, of course. The County of Charleston has several public service districts: St. Andrews PSD, James Island PSD, etc., which service unincorporated areas of the county.

As a side note, I voted against incorporating and I hope that it is ruled illegal. Those who voted in favor often cited less expenses and the increased taxes they'd pay if the City annexed the land. Short-sighted. Now, we have to pay all the expenses that were being provided free, in addition to the salaries of the mayor, council members, etc. (It was proposed, even, that the Mayor's annual salary be increased to $65,000, a fantastic figure for a small town. She (the mayor) voted in favor of that, but they settled for $30,000. I can see no way we can become financially better off. And it troubles me that the Mayor would vote in favor of such a large salary increase, which is way out of proportion to what other mayors in small towns around here earn. Most of the other mayors have full-time jobs, in addition to being mayor, and perform that service as a public service.

[Pushkin]

I was always told that to be cities had to have a cathedral, with the exception of Cambrige, for some reason connected with the university there.

I thought that too, but now a couple of towns in Northern Ireland are looking to become cities, doesn't the Queen award them city status every few years? The new cities were once very un-remarkable towns too with fairly town-like populations.

[Lobsang]

DAMN! Finally an interesting question I can answer (for UK cities at least), by an ADMINISTRATOR no less, and it's already been answered.

[Lobsang]

DAMN! Finally an interesting question I can answer (for UK cities at least), by an ADMINISTRATOR no less, and it's already been answered.

And I wasted my 6000th post on that.

[pantom]

I'll try to answer for the archaeological definition: my professors in college, as I recall, defined a city as a settlement with a complex division of labor among its inhabitants and a recognizable class structure, as I recall. The closest thing I can find online for this is this passage:


Finally, the archeologist and anthropologist Robert M. Adams argued for a definition of civilization as a society with functionally interrelated sets of social institutions: class stratification based on the ownership and control of production, political and religious hierarchies complementing each other in the central administration of territorially organized states and lastly, a complex division of labor, with skilled workers, soldiers and officials existing alongside the great mass of peasant producers.


I realize the above is a more general definition of civilization, but civilization and cities go together like pancakes and syrup.

From The History Guide: What is Civilization? (http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/lecture1b.html)