Fairfax County Executive Anthony Griffin has suggested to the Board of Supervisors that the county become a city. According to the Washington Post account, Griffin want the power of a city to gain Fairfax more local authority over taxes and transportation issues.
The idea of a large county-sized entity incorporating with a formal city structure isn't established in the metro D.C. area, unless one considers Alexandria to be such a site. The concept is more prevalent in areas like Houston where individual suburban communities are incorporated into the city whole.
The first and most obvious problem with this specific plan is that their already is a separate Fairfax City. Making Fairfax County into a second Fairfax City would cause branding confusion. More importantly, individual communities already have their own distinct identities, postal and census designations et al which they would be loathe to give up to be part of any greater Fairfax.
Considering how poorly Northern Virginia has been treated by the state government in terms of transportation funding, the desire for creative solutions is understandable. This particular solution though seems too creative by half.
______________________Labels: anthony griffin, fairfax county, politics, transportation, virginia, virginia politics
