Detachment

It occurred to me that I have been making this autonomy thing more complicated than it needs to be.  All that is really needed for a neighborhood to become autonomous is that it detach itself from the city and reorganize itself into a separate village or township.  It would still be part of the county and the state, but it would no longer be part of the city.  All the other details we have discussed would be handled the same way they are handled now when one jurisdiction abuts another.  All the major cities have adjacent suburbs as it is, this would be just adding one more.  If our detached neighborhood ends up totally surrounded by the city, it would then be an enclave like Hamtramck (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamtramck,_Michigan) instead of a suburb like Cicero.

The only glitch is that the existing suburbs grew up around the city after the city's borders were established.  Some suburbs were later annexed by the city, but many were not and remain autonomous even unto this day.  I have never heard of it being done in reverse, a piece of the city breaking off and becoming a suburb, but that doesn't mean it can't be done.  I suppose different states have different procedures for this, or maybe none of them have, which means we have to make one up.  First we get sufficient names on a petition to put the measure on the ballot.  If the ballot initiative passes, then we're home free unless the city opposes us in court, which could drag on for years.  At first I thought the city would be glad to be rid of us, but maybe not.  People are funny that way about real estate sometimes, they have no use for it, but they don't want anybody else to have it either.

Then I got to thinking that, since White people are a minority in many core cities, it might be easier to break out the White neighborhoods and let the city keep the rest.  But wait!  If Whites represent a minority of the city's population, why are a majority of the city's cops White?  Yeah I know, money power, privilege, etc.  But wait! Some cities like Chicago have Black or Hispanic mayors.  If the Whites can't even control City Hall, how can they control the city police?  I seem to have misplaced my Occam's Razor, maybe Uncle Ken will let me borrow his.