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Comment by akira2501 | Hacker News Reader

> It would make more sense to create intermediate governments with power over metro areas.

That's basically a county. Perhaps we just need to reconsider those boundaries?

> Sacramento

As a native, it's not as homogeneous as anyone would presume; and I feel the surrounding counties and structure do more or less reasonably represent the geographical and societal divisions that are present in Sacramento and the surrounding areas. I'm not sure any of our neighbors would appreciate being lumped out of California and in with us.

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Minnesota and Oregon did exactly what your parent is suggesting.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Council

The seven counties in the Council's Twin Cities Metropolitan Area are Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, and Washington counties. The Metropolitan Council or Met Council is the regional governmental agency and metropolitan planning organization in Minnesota serving the Twin Cities seven-county metropolitan area. The Met Council is granted regional authority powers in state statutes by the Minnesota Legislature. These powers can supersede decisions and actions of local governments. The legislature entrusts the Council to maintain public services and oversee growth of the state's largest metro area. This agency is similar to Metro in Portland, Oregon in that both agencies administer an urban growth boundary.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_(Oregon_regional_governm...

Metro serves 25 cities in Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington counties (as well as unincorporated parts of those counties.) Metro is the regional government for the Oregon portion of the Portland metropolitan area. It is the only directly elected regional government and metropolitan planning organization in the United States. Metro is responsible for managing the Portland region's solid waste system, coordinating the growth of the cities in the region, managing a regional parks and natural areas system, and overseeing the Oregon Zoo, Oregon Convention Center, Portland's Centers for the Arts, and the Portland Expo Center.

Counties don't have nearly enough power to drive changes, and there are also too many of them in the Bay Area as well.

> Counties don't have nearly enough power to drive changes

Depends on the county. The Bay Area makes that problematic, but the Bay Area has extensive regional governance systems above the county level already. (Such systems aren't uncommon in California, but the Bay Area is heavy with them, probably specifically because it's a large economically integrated region with small counties compared to the size of the region.)

It does, but they have essential no power (until you get to the state).

> That's basically a county. Perhaps we just need to reconsider those boundaries?

There are 9 counties in the Bay Area.

Those are very broad boundaries, though. It's not clear that people from Gilroy, Rio Vista, and Geyserville all share common interests in Bay Area governance.

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