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Originally Posted by Tourian
I think they do in some way but just for public services, perhaps? The police refer to themselves as Charlotte - Mecklenburg police. But then they also have Mecklenburg Sheriff's dept too which is odd. The schools are C - M school system. But as mentioned, the city is practically coterminous with the county anyway.
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I think the relationship you see between Charlotte and Mecklenburg County might be similar to what Mobile has with Mobile County. Mobile County Schools cover most of the county. I don't know if there is significant cooperation between law enforcement, though.
But, I think those who wrote the state constitution always intended for county politics to be dominated by individual cities that pursued their own interests. Perfect example is Perdido Beach down in Baldwin County; they incorporated a few years back so that they could control development in their area and protect their small town atmosphere. I think Center Point is a more local example. IMO, things worked out just as they planned, which is why there are so many damn cities in JeffCo.
In a progressive move, the state government afforded a handful of counties some limited home rule, which is why JeffCo was able to get itself into bankruptcy. That probably wouldn't have happened if the county had maintained the weak amount of power the 1901 Constitution had intended.
The 1901 Constitution was written with the knowledge that a weak county government with no significant control over the land within its own boundaries meant virtually no unified voice. That meant that every little faction in every pocket of the county would incorporate their own community in order to "protect" and control what happened in their immediate surroundings. The control municipalities have within their limits is enough to prevent, generally, a significant change in demographics; this, in turn, ensures the fragmentation within a county. That fragmentation just means that you have a ton of individual communities pursuing interests that are just different enough that they can agree on very little.
All you need after that is a politician that is willing to gerrymander and you have the reason things are so slow to change around here, which is exactly what 1901 Constitution intended.
All of that may not seem pertinent, but it really is a good reason why unification may not be the solution that the area actually needs. Tough part is, it's incredibly hard to imagine ever being able to change it. I'd hazard a guess that your average resident of Mountain Brook doesn't want to live in the same municipality as the average resident of Brighton.
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Originally Posted by jslaughter
Btw, there is A tv show that will air on AMC called bombingham. It's about Birmingham in the 1960's and will be filmed here. It takes place in the present and 1960s bham. Should be interesting.
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I'm interested to see how the city is portrayed. I've never been one to ignore the past for the sake of moving on, but I'm anxious to see how this will affect people's current perception of the city.
EDIT: Kind of makes me think about that show back in the 90s "Any Day Now".