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The idea of having a Bay Area "Mayor" sounds like an idea that could have solve a lot of the problems in the Bay Area. The issue would be trying to make that tr
by Veelox 9y ago
The idea of having a Bay Area "Mayor" sounds like an idea that could have solve a lot of the problems in the Bay Area. The issue would be trying to make that transition happen, seems almost impossible.
- bradleyjg 9y agoCalifornia has a initiative right? Couldn't it be done through a statewide ballot measure?
- junkscience2017 9y agoNo, you cannot just vote to delete a city you don't reside in, even in California
- bradleyjg 9y agoWhy not? The subdivisions of California are creatures of state law, either statutory or constitutional. An initiative can modify statues or the constitution. There are three limitations on them (Art. II, section 8, (d), (e), and (f)) but I don't see how any of them would apply here. Do you see a federal constitutional or statutory doctrine that would prevent it from doing so?
- junkscience2017 9y agoIf you move the goalposts to modifying the State Constitution, sure, you can do anything that doesn't conflict with the Federal Constitution. The votes would never materialize. In Palo Alto or Los Gatos you couldn't even get 2% of voters willing to surrender their right to local governance. Why not turn this around...SF can agree to become part of San Jose. Are you still interested?
- bradleyjg 9y agoI live all the way on the other side of the country. I don't have a dog in the fight. I just suggested that the Bay Area could be reorganized into a single municipality through the initiative process if the voters of California decided to do that. Whether or not you could actually get the votes is something I'm not equipped to answer. A big part of it would depend on what people in Southern California think of the idea given that it contains over half the state's population.
- junkscience2017 9y agoLos Angeles is the result of the process people here are advocating and it is considered a civic disaster...so much so that it has had to yield to secession efforts in the entire years. Surprise, people don't want to have their mayor live 80 miles away. Few in California would vote to create a second Los Angeles.
- DrScump 9y agoAn initiative can modify statues Statutes. Any strong hammer can modify a statue. But seriously, yes, statute law or the state Constitution can be modified by initiative. The latter requires more qualifying signatures than the former, but once it's on the ballot, simple majority is all it takes. But the status of cities also involves the city's charter (not all cities are charter cities, but most major ones are).
- bradleyjg 9y agoSurely city charters don't stand as barriers to municipal consolidation when the tool at hand can modify the state Constitution?
- ende 9y agoInterestingly enough, when SF and Oakland were both attempting to annex every neighboring town in proximity, SF had designs on consolidating all the Bay Area municipalities under a system similar to NYC's boroughs.
- gojomo 9y agoMore details on what coulda, woulda, shoulda been: http://hoodline.com/2017/03/that-time-san-francisco-tried-to-annex-oakland-berkeley-and-most-of-the-bay-area http://hoodline.com/2017/03/that-time-san-francisco-tried-to...
- ende 9y agoAha! I was looking for that article. Thank you!
- DrScump 9y agoThere were also plans to fill in most of the Bay as well. After all, "all those pesky wetlands are just wasted space!"
- junkscience2017 9y agoI live in Los Gatos which has a population of 30k. I know the mayor by name. I can go to a Town Council meeting and directly address the Council even for needs that would seem trivial. Tell me how my life is upgraded when my local political context goes from 30k people to six million.