Riding on the Metro

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March 30, 2005

Riding on the Metro

A panel is moving forward on thoughts of creating a single organization from Murfreesboro and Rutherford County. (Ah, Murfreesboro: ever the little sister in Nashville's shadow ?)

I'm sure that more than one person down on this end of I-24 thought about the pros and cons of metro government back when the school systems merged. Add to that the fact that we have a unified zoning/planning agency, and that there have been motions toward combining the tax collection functions, and it can be argued that the question is somewhat in front of us.

However, unlike Rutherford, which (to my knowledge) only has Murfreesboro to consider in a government merger, Hamilton County is blessed/cursed with close to a dozen municipalities within its borders. Aside from the City of Chattanooga, many of us live in Collegedale, East Ridge, Lakesite, Lookout Mountain, Red Bank, Ridgeside, Signal Mountain, Soddy-Daisy, or Walden. Largely enclave-ish and stubbornly resistant to proposals of, well, any sort of change, these tiny "cities" could represent a large obstacle facing anyone who would dare dream of increasing efficiency by switching to a comprehensive governing body.

I know that there are plenty of arguments against metro government in addition to the unique challenge here in Hamilton, but I don't know what they are, specifically. Post your thoughts, pro or con, and I'll appreciate the edification.

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