Should Fairfax County become a proper city? It has over a million people, many more than Washington, D.C. The bottom line seems to be this:
The basis for the idea is largely tactical — under state law, cities
have more taxing power and greater control over roads than counties do
– and it led to more than a few snickers about the thrilling nightlife
in downtown Fairfax (punch line: there isn't any).
Natasha could no longer say "We are from Washington":
If Fairfax does become a city, it would instantly become one of the largest in the nation, the size of San Antonio or San Jose.
It would also diverge dramatically from the stereotype of the gritty
metropolis. Fairfax enjoys many of the benefits — wealth and jobs –
and few of the detriments — crime, troubled schools — of a large
urban center. With a median household income of $105,000, it is the
wealthiest large county in the nation. Among large school systems, it
boasts the highest test scores. And it has the lowest murder rate among
the nation's 30 largest cities and counties.
One question is why this rather uncoordinated mix works so well. Federal dollars, diversity of immigration, and diversity of planning strategies all can be cited. The latter factor probably means we should not touch the status quo. And by the way, almost all of our nightlife is Korean but it does exist.
You ain’t got nothing on Bethesda.
What Grammar Nazi said.
Some things just aren’t that hard to understand–Fairfax county’s underclass doesn’t live in Fairfax county. I don’t imagine they will suddenly show up if Fairfax becomes a city.
Answer: Positive externalities derived from the proximity to Washington, DC. That is, I think that Fairfax County would NOT be a possible “city” without the District nearby. Particularly, many high density cultural activities (professional sports, museums, etc.) would have to be produced in Fairfax generating some of the negative effects mentioned, thus not “work so well”.
Aren’t cities a somewhat outdated organizational model? That’s the real question for an economist.
There is a downtown. It’s the city of Fairfax, an enclave within Fairfax County. Fairfax is the county seat of Fairfax County, despite not belonging to it (in Virginia, cities are independent of counties), though certain county offices are themselves enclaves of the county within the city.
Aren’t those in Fairfax city?
The article includes the parenthetical “(Set aside for a moment that the county already surrounds a smaller Fairfax City.)” But certainly if this comes up, I expect that someone will ask the “why doesn’t some of Fairfax County join Fairfax (city)?”
As Tyler surely knows, there already IS a Fairfax City, with a venerable history and proud tradition of autonomy from the County that surrounds it.
Indeed, the GMU campus is located immediately adjacent to Fairfax City (whose population has remained around 20K for decades).
My dad, who was one of GMU’s early faculty members (hired back in the 1960s, retired in the 80s)–a conservative polymath librarian who would have LOVED meeting/talking to/kibbitzing with Tyler, was a proud and happy citizen of Fairfax City.
Before moving to Fairfax City, he had spent his entire life living in Washington DC, and he so loved the transition to small-city life, where our family dentist was the mayor of Fairfax City. My parents and a few of their friends would enjoy going out to weekly city council meetings and then repairing afterwards to one of their homes, along with the mayor, for more discussions afterwards.
At the beginning of their time in Fairfax, the City actually had its own independent school system as well, and my parents and their friends were very proud of its autonomy. Back in the mid 70s, I remember them creating a float for the Fairfax City Fourth of July parade, with a “Save our independent schools” theme, campaigning against a proposed merger of the city schools into the county school system. My little sister sat at a desk on that float. Alas for their hopes, they lost that battle, and the Fairfax City schools were swallowed up into the Fairfax County bureaucracy.
My dad would be rolling over in his grave at the thought of Fairfax County becoming Fairfax City (likely stealing the name, identity, and autonomy of Fairfax City.)
Diversity of planning processes (and the greater accountability that can come with smaller scale local governments) can indeed be a very good thing.
I think fairfax county should restore itself as a dominion.
Should it become a city? Everything you actually wrote suggests the answer is a resouding “No!”
I don’t know Fairfax, but I know a place that might be familiar, near New Orleans. Metarie is large, vibrant, and unincorporated. I suspect that Fairfax is doing well for itself the way it is, and adding that extra layer of governance upon itself will cause it to stagnate.
Fairfax, with its parkways and malls, is not a city. And if it became a city, what would it be? DC’s Shopping Mall to the West. DC’s WalMart? DC’s home for Chain Restaurants? When I first moved to Fairfax, I looked around for nightlife/culture on the weekend – turns out they are all in the district (or Arlington). I moved out of the suburban hell after 10 months.
DC is the city, the jobs in Fairfax are just a first derivative of a DC job.
I agree that there is already a downtown of the “new” city of Fairfax. Its called Tyson’s Corner.
This organizational model is very common in Canada, where there are extremely large suburban cities: Mississauga (near Toronto), Surrey (near Vancouver) and Laval (near Montreal) are some of the largest ‘cities’ in Canada, because like the proposed city of Fairfax, they are very large (in area) agglomerations of suburbs.
They would likely be a good subject for study for whether this is a good idea, because they are easily contrasted with other smaller suburbs nearby.
They also do not have nightlife.
anyone else in Fairfax City wanna talk about the abomination that is/was the restructuring of University Dr and George Mason Dr? I now have to drive an extra half mile to get anywhere west/south. ugh.
anyone else in Fairfax City wanna talk about the abomination that is/was the restructuring of University Dr and George Mason Dr? I now have to drive an extra half mile to get anywhere west/south. ugh.
The latter factor probably means we should not touch the status quo. And by the way, almost all of our nightlife is Korean but it does exist.
I gree with it!
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