Domino Effect (or Even Need) of Potential Burb Merger Must be Included in Current Study Phase

So argues the content of this article from tomorrow's Sun papers, "Area merger proposal worries Bentleyville officials." In particular, the comment section includes some interesting ideas of potential mergers.

An axiom I learned a long time ago occured to me as I read that article: when you say yes to one thing, you are saying no to something else.  If Moreland Hills and Orange Village and Woodmere say yes to either sharing services with Pepper Pike which they share or have shared with other communities with which they are not merging (if they say "yes" to Pepper Pike re: sharing services and/or merging), what happens to the communities to whom Moreland, Orange and Woodmere are then saying "no"?

Then we have to ask, what is the answer to that consequence - is there a good one, consistent with the idea of regionalism or consolidation?

At a minimum, an absolute bare minimum, this supports a need for the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission's work to include an examination of the consequences on the entire Chagrin Valley region of changing the alliances and potentially the boundaries, beyond the four communities involved in the current, nascent merger study.  Because we should not be studying the merger in isolation from a potential, regional domino effect - or need for such an effect in order to not harm other already existing collaborations.

BONUS thought for the day: Consider what someone told me about why we have 88 counties in Ohio: because no community in any one county could be further than a day's ride from the county seat.  Now, a quick Google search didn't bring that up so I am not 100% sure though I definitely trust my source. So, the point is, now that we don't "ride" and in fact have electronic means to conduct county-level business, does it actually mean that we should erase ALL county lines, have no counties and just let the state administer us?

This is an easy one for me - no.  I believe in local government.  But we're going through a redefining of what we will get to consider to be "local."

What is the right definition of local for you?  Have you ever really thought about it that way?  Maybe you should, certainly before we change it from how it is embodied in Ohio's political subdivisions right now.