Municipal annexation in the United States
Such annexations are sometimes used when a municipality seeks to acquire unincorporated developed land, such as a newly built subdivision separated from it by undeveloped open space.Such uses of the technique are often criticized and derided as a form of gerrymandering, and have in fact been used for the purpose of manipulating vote distribution among election precincts and districts.Strip annexation was widely used by the municipalities of the Phoenix metropolitan area during the 1970s to preemptively gain control of large areas of land before other municipalities, without having to annex more than a thin strip surrounding a large so-called county island.[6] The Port of Los Angeles together with the San Pedro, Wilmington and Harbor City neighborhoods of Los Angeles, are connected to the main part of the city by what is called locally the "Shoestring Strip" between Figueroa Street and Vermont Avenue and between Western and Normandie avenues to the south.A narrow strip of land at the bottom of San Diego Bay connects these southern neighborhoods with the rest of the city.
Municipal annexationurbanizationsuburbsUnited StatesJohn Forrest Dillonmunicipal corporationsjurisdictionannexationssovereign statesLos Angeles CountyLos AngelesSan PedroPort of Los AngelesmunicipalityunincorporatedsubdivisionelectricitygarbagegerrymanderingPhoenix metropolitan areacounty islandChandlerGilbertMaricopa CountyScottsdaleChicagoDuPage CountyWilmingtonHarbor CityShoestring StripFigueroa StreetVermont AvenueWesternNormandieO'Hare AirportDes Plaines RiverRosemontSchiller ParkBostonAllstonBrightonBoston UniversityBrooklineCharles RiverBrookline's refusal to join BostonSanta Barbara Municipal AirportSanta BarbaraGoletaPacific OceanSouth San DiegoMexico–United States borderSan DiegoNational CityChula VistaSan Diego BayWest GroveGarden GroveOrange County, CaliforniaStantonMunicipal deannexation in the United StatesAmalgamation (politics)Enclave and exclaveBoroughitisPaper townshipJackson, Kenneth T.Oxford University Press