AviK
No my town is not like your settlement. Students who are attending day school and don’t live in my town are dropped at the door by parents or bus and picked up at the end of the day. They are not permitted off school grounds during the day and do not shop for anything here. Even our public schools are closed campuses. Students are not free to leave and return during the day.
My call for centralization/regionalization is in a small state. Our entire state has only 3.6 million people…contrast that with the Borough of Brooklyn which has 2.6 million. We have 8 counties in CT, but no county government has existed since the 1960s. Simply replacing more than 150 small municipal fiefdoms with 8 governments makes sense.
As it is small towns currently rely on neighbors with mutual aid pacts for police and fire, There are 16 regional school districts combined pf 2 or more small towns with too few students and/or resources to run their own school systems. At least 12 towns don’t have their own high schools.
Waste processing is already regional, there are 27 Cable TV franchise areas in the state. No Cable company could bid town by town, it would be economic death to do business that way. Many towns have government composed of mostly part-time employees or volunteers and town hall may be open only one or 2 1/2 days a week. None of this makes sense in a modern world. Health and safety are hampered by one horse operations.
Unlike big states such as NY. Our state legislators are part timers who can not survive on the $28,000 yearly salary (which hasn’t been raised in 13 years). Most are employed or in business locally and in constant touch with residents.
I find state government more responsive than local in many towns. The workers are full time professionals and don’t care about your political party affiliation. In little towns and some of our big cities, one party controls government 100% and if you do not march to their commend you get no service..