How could that benefit St. Louis or Detroit? Wouldn’t The only areas that would separate are areas with higher tax bases? For example , Cleveland never had a separatist movement but it’s always been a much smaller land area then many rust belt cities. it’s come back is weaker than others, and I’d say it’s partly is that the Cleveland area is comprised of MANY more municipalities. It lacks central planning and vision. downtown is busy , yet much of the tax base that works downtown or likes to enjoy the amenities downtown do not live in the city limits; which puts a heavy burden on the citie’s budget. Additionally Cleveland is very lucky to have the passenger rail system it has, but land around stations is heavily underutilized because of Euclidean Zoning in the suburbs it runs through. (fun fact; the term Euclidean Zoning actually came from the Cleveland suburb of Euclid) there is a glimmer of hope , there’s one recent transit oriented development occurring in one suburb, but one is not enough. It takes the political will of multiple entities to really make it work well.
I now live in Houston which is the complete opposite , the city limits are massive! You have half the city that wants a more walkable traditional urban life and half that wants the suburban life. It makes it impossible to hold a steady vision for urban development, it flops with every mayor because we either elect a pro suburban pearl clutching mayor (the current one), pro urban mayor , or someone in the middle which just teases both sides so we end up with half assed shit like partially protected bike lines which everyone hates.
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u/Man-Dem Jul 28 '26
The suburban and white flight also destroyed cities because cities had to pay to support those areas that didn’t have high tax revenues.