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Cities in the United states have no authority not granted to them by the state. If the people of Florida felt strongly about it and organized, they could have

• thaumasiotes 12y ago
  Well, I asked > Why is the town supposed to have this power in the first place? not "why does the town have this power in the first place?" The scenario you describe is ludicrous; Hampton received state attention when it ticketed a representative, not because there was a grassroots movement in the other 99.99% of Florida. Some perspective: - They annexed a 0.2 mile stretch of highway. Imagine trying to keep track of all the roads in your state in 1000-foot increments. - Hampton appears to be, by eyeball, somewhere between 1 and 4 square miles (eyeballing this isn't totally ludicrous because, with the exception of the since-abolished freeway patch, it's a square). Call it 4 square miles. Florida is 70,000 square miles. So the level of scrutiny required here does not and cannot exist. Why does a tiny hamlet that happens to be located near a freeway get the right to unilaterally declare that the freeway is now part of town and start hitting up everyone who passes by for cash? There's no sane reason for them to have this power.