Heres the stats:

I compiled all the information population-wise, and here it is:

First the raw population for our area. I have the MSA statistics from the Census and I have the actual HR Region stats as well:

Currently, the most populated US cities are:

As you can see the closest HR city is VA Beach with 435,619 people.

Now if the 7 cities Combined into one city, the City of 7 Cities would rank (oddly enough) #7. If we just used South Hampton Roads, this city would rank #10

Now everyone knows that the largest cities get the most attention. Attention from everyone; the feral government, the state government, national and international companies, etc. Come on Hampton Roads, we have potential. Lets make this happen.

Keep Working

Recently there was an article in the VA Pilot that was talking about the construction of the HRBT. It was touted as a new step towards regionalism when it was built. There was even a move to merge Norfolk, Portsmouth, Newport News, and Hampton into one, City of Hampton Roads.

That idea is what I'm pushing towards. We now are America's First Region. But where is the regionalism? Norfolk is building a new Light Rail. It will be good. Not great, but good. The only way to make it great is through connectivity. A line to the Beach would be a start. Followed up by a line to Norfolk Int'l Airport and the Norfolk Naval Station. This would allow Naval station workers to avoid traffic. The airport line would allow visitors from far and wide to quickly for from the airport to the Beach, which in turn would turn more profit at the Oceanfront because the buses would be in high demand. A line to a park-and-ride in Great Bridge or Greenbriar would be good too. Right now the Peninsula is looking a Light Rail as a fixed corridor mass transit system. If we could link this Southside system to the Peninsula, the demand would skyrocket. New tunnels and crossings would become a moot point.

After this regional system, a goal would be to connect to the proposed Richmond-HR high speed rail line, which could have a stop in Williamsburg. With all this in place, HR would have America's First Region AND America's Best Mass Transit. Businesses would come from far and wide to headquarter here, around the light rail, knowing that their employees can't use traffic as an excuse for tardiness.

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Its been awhile, but....

I know its been some time, but recently the Hampton Roads Partnership started their "America's First Region" campaign. This is a great step in the right direction but it must keep going forward. the region will be able to run more efficiently and at a lower cost if certain services are combined.

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A couple of articles

Here are a few articles that I have found dealing with this idea. I think that they are very useful and full of good reasons on why this idea should be put into motion.

1. Moving Hampton Roads

2. Greatern Norfolk: Why Not?

3. A Path Not Taken

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My Idea

Here is my idea. This is only my idea and I am open minded and would like people to comment on my idea to help me to compromise with various other ideas to create an idea that is acceptable with the largest number of people.

I would like to see at least the seven cities (Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Suffolk, Portsmouth, Hampton, and Newport News) combined into one city. This would enable all of the tax revenues to be combined to focus on larger issues that lacked funding before-hand. I realize that some people are worried about the identity of their city and who would get to keep their name. There are people that want the whole thing to be Norfolk and others want Virginia Beach. I think that, instead, we should choose a new name to better promote a unity between the areas. Each city could keep its own identity. For instance, the City of ___ including the precincts of Norfolk, VA Beach, et cetera. The overall city name could be the City of Tidewater or the City of Hampton Roads (I prefer City of Hampton Roads).
I have some thoughts on the possible advantages broken down by city. Norfolk would be able to focus on bringing new business to the city and to expand its existing downtown. Virginia Beach could, instead of spending money on a make-shift downtown, could focus on their oceanfront. They would have more money for police patrol and more money to entice larger hotels or expand the beach itself or events at the beach. Imagine a concert venue, perhaps, with the oceanfront behind the performing artist. Their tourist industry would boom. Chesapeake too, instead of spending money on a new municipal building, could focus on reforming their education system, to diminish the size of classes, lessen the overcrowding, and improve the quality of education. They would be able to also improve their transportation system, building alternatives to drawbridges and wider roads to accommodate the large quantity of traffic in the area. Suffolk would be able to combat growing traffic and crime problems, as well as with Hampton and Newport News. Hampton and Newport News, beside the traffic and crime previously mentioned, would be able to attract more retail stores to improve their shopping districts and entice more residents to their areas. Portsmouth would be able to continue to revitalize their Olde Towne section and improve their reputation.

All of this could be accomplished due to the combination of budgets. Seven cities, seven mayors, seven councils, seven municipal centers, seven fire chiefs, seven police chiefs, et cetera. Nobody is going to like losing their job. Those who would no longer be needed would be able to be re-assigned or they could choose a well-endowed severance package and be on their way. All the area municipal employees would enjoy a standardized benefits package set to that of the best current package.

Currently the cities in the area spend too much competing with each other; Competing to get the most businesses, or to have the tallest buildings, when what we really need is a competition in the global economy, which can only be achieved through a new plan.

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Issue and Concerns

Please reply to this post with all issue and concerns that you would like to see before the area could become on city. In other words, if there is a reason why you do not support this plan, post that here. I would like to know. This plan has got to be tailored to the needs of the whole area.

NOTE: All comments are approved by me before they are put onto the site. I do not censor ideas, only extreme language, as it is part of my AdSense Agreement. I will only replace such things with *** and will not remove or modify the underlying idea in any way.

My Mission

My mission for this area and the purpose of this site is to gain support for a plan to combine the Hamton Roads area into one jurisdiction, possibly the City of Greater Hampton Roads. The benefits of being one city are limitless. The area would be able to attract more businesses to the area and there would be a large financial base to solve crime, education, and traffic problems. The first thing to do, in order to make this plan work, would be to accomodate as many people as possible. I will post a seperate article on this, to which I would like everyone to post their concerns about this scenario. I will look at everyone's concerns and I will try to mold them into one plan. My original plan would include the 7 main cities in the area (Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Portsmouth, and Suffolk). There are more cities in the area and I would not mind them joining as well, as it would only contribute to the overall goal of a better region to live and work in. The Hampton Roads Partnership lists the Hampton Roads communities as: Chesapeake, Franklin, Gloucester, Hampton, Isle of Wight, James City County, Newport News, Norfolk, Poquoson, Portsmouth, Smithfield, Southampton County, Suffolk, Surry , Virginia Beach, Williamsburg, and York County
There are 17 localities there. If all of those would be able to be one jurisdiction, the area would be in much better shape economically. Even if the 7 cities were a jurisdicion and the remaining 10 in a co-operative with that city, we would be better off.

NOTE: All comments are approved by me before they are put onto the site. I do not censor ideas, only extreme language, as it is part of my AdSense Agreement. I will only replace such things with *** and will not remove or modify the underlying idea in any way.