Should Northern VA be its own state (Richmond, Arlington: school, universities)

[Love2LiveNCities]

Okay this is not my idea. But IF for some odd reason things happened where it became its own state. What in fact do you think it would be like as far as economy on its own, school output, jobs, taxes. Now for the most part obviously everything would remain the same. But if NOVA became a state...would it be bad or good, what would its capitals be, would we need more universities because we take away VCU, Va Tech and pretty much anything else. And this came from a Facebook group saying NoVa should be its own state. I disagree, but its still interesting

Classifying the boundaries as Stafford to DC, from the river to Loudon, No Fauquier, no Spotslyvania. so basically alexandria, arlingtion, pw, fairfax, and loudon.

thoughts and comments. Just for the fun of it

[seldomseen]

NoVa shouldn't, nor could I ever imagine it becoming it's own state, besides the obvious fact that it would be one extremely, tiny state! lol I could see it being it's own District, similiar to Washington, D.C. when is seems to already be. lol

[Love2LiveNCities]

Originally Posted by seldomseen

NoVa shouldn't, nor could I ever imagine it becoming it's own state, besides the obvious fact that it would be one extremely, tiny state! lol I could see it being it's own District, similiar to Washington, D.C. when is seems to already be. lol

we would be bigger than rhode island, and hawaii, maybe Mass but i dont have a map in front of me lol. But yeah the District of Northern Virginia. Instead of DMV we got DNV lol

[vak9girl]

Why would that ever happen and why would we want it too?
Besides it being a strange idea...it would screw up the flag! LOL!

[Love2LiveNCities]

Originally Posted by vak9girl

Why would that ever happen and why would we want it too?
Besides it being a strange idea...it would screw up the flag! LOL!

awesome point lol...that flag looks damn pretty the way it is now lol. Pretty soon we are going to have to add an mexican star to it, or they will have to do it to theirs....if you get my drift lol

[eastli84]

Interesting post. I've heard this debate pop up quite frequently at work, in the local media, and out casually. Based on conversations and general observations, it seems like people from Northern Virginia (those who would want to break away from the State) would want to do so for two main reasons:

1. FINANCIALLY: For the enormous amount of tax money northern Virginians dole out to Richmond each year, not enough of that money is funnelled back to Northern Virginia in the form of transportation projects and other regional projects. The northern region's pleas for financial assistance are falling on deaf ears in Richmond.

2. CULTURALLY: The culture of Northern Virginia is different from the culture of areas further to the south. Relative to other parts of Virginia, Northern Virginia is more hustle bustle, politically blue, expensive, and every other attribute that comes along with being more urban than rural (positive and negative).

That's just my two cents. I am not a native of this region, but that is my take on the reasons fueling the debate of NOVA vs ROVA (rest of Virginia).

Personally, I am not for "secession" from the State. Virginia is a solid state in its current form since its regions are so diverse.

[dullnboring]

I wouldn't personally support such a thing, but I think the biggest benefit would be that we would see more firsthand results from our taxes as we would be no longer be disproportionately given to other portions of the state. The biggest issue cited in the press when they debate such things is that of transportation/road improvements. Of course, that's operating under the assumption that our local governments would spend this "new" money wisely, which quite frankly, I have my doubts on. Another benefit, in my mind at least, more blue states.

I think the biggest drawback would be the lack of public universities. It really is amazing just how few universities there are in Northern Virginia. Off the top of my head, I can only think of George Mason and Marymount. I know there's a few really small ones, but needless to say, most kids in Northern Virginia would be going to school out of state and be forced to pay higher tuition.

As for what would be the state capital, there's two places that come to mind, Fairfax City and Alexandria. Fairfax in the sense that most state capitals are somewhat centralized in the state, and Fairfax is, sort of, and it has a bit of that old historic air in it's downtown where I could see a capitol building fitting in. Alexandria, because it just seems like the character is more fitting to be a capital. It would also technically be the state's largest city at 130,000 people. Arlington is larger, but Arlington is technically not classified as a city.

I just did some rough calculations and googling and it turns out that if it were a state, Northern Virginia would be approximately 1,350 square miles, the nation's smallest state after Rhode Island. It would also usurp New Jersey as the nation's most densely populated state with approximately 1,500 people per square mile. The population would be roughly 2 million people and it would make Northern Virginia the nation's 36th largest state, sandwiched in between Nevada and New Mexico, larger than New Mexico, West Virginia, Nebraska, Idaho, Maine, New Hampshire, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Montana, Delaware, South Dakota, Alaska, North Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming. The state would have five electoral votes that would most likely go to the Democrats. Northern Virginia would also be roughly 1/3 minority with roughly equal numbers of blacks, Latinos and Asians.

Also, taking out Northern Virginia, the new state of Virginia would drop from the nation's 12th largest state, to the 19th, just ahead of Maryland.

I've also heard the idea loosely kicked around a few times of creating a state out of Northern Virginia, DC and the inner Maryland suburbs (Montgomery, PG, and maybe Charles and Howard), making DC the capital.

[EricD]

Originally Posted by eastli84

1. FINANCIALLY: For the enormous amount of tax money northern Virginians dole out to Richmond each year, not enough of that money is funnelled back to Northern Virginia in the form of transportation projects and other regional projects. The northern region's pleas for financial assistance are falling on deaf ears in Richmond.

I'm sure the mixing bowl, the woodrow wilson bridge, widening I-66, and turning 28 into a highway all cost nothing compared to the huge road projects in the rest of the state... wait, I can't think of any. I personally think that NoVa is getting a good share of highway funds, and your projects are actually getting completed fairly quickly.