With 11.4M people, the state of Georgia is about 29% the size of California. Within Georgia there are 159 counties and 535 incorporated municipalities, including one (Edge Hill) with just 22 people. Georgia has 8 municipalities with combined city-county governments. Among Georgia's 11.4M people are 1.5M who live in unincorporated Census-Designated Places (CDPs) without Mayors and City Councils to tend to local issues.

California, by comparison, has 58 counties and 483 incorporated municipalities, 1 of which (San Francisco) has a combined city-county government. California also has around 5M-6M residents of CDPs. So, at first glance, one would assume that the citizens of Georgia's cities have a better governance system - better representation - than the citizens of California do. Less people+more cities should equal more local control. But look at the number of counties. We know from California that counties aren't set up to handle municipal affairs very well. MIght that be the case in Georgia, too? The disenfranchisment of unincorporated area residents in Georgia is roughly the same as in California at about 13% of the population.

Ah, but wait. It is hard enough for a city to be formed in California. Once formed, though, it is something of a Hurculean task to undo a municipality here in the Golden State. In Georgia, however, it might be as easy as having a legislator getting a bill passed - regardless of whatever facts on the ground might be citied by the municipal government that's the subject of the undoing or if the people who live there don't want to give up control of their municipal affairs. Consider Hiram, GA, a city of almost 5,000 people in the Atlanta Metro Area. Hiram is being threatened with losing its cityhood status by GA Senate Bill 630. We stumbled onto this news this week and we looked into the city's opinion. It sure sounds like a power grab is going on. Being tuned into that kind of Machiavellian behavior and being total fans of local control, we hereby offer to the good people of Hiram our willingness to send a letter of concern to the Georgia Legislature if they want us to. We certainly wish them the best at holding on to their self-determination status. Good grief!