Commons:Categories for discussion/2024/09/Category:Towns in King County, Washington
What is this category about? It includes (among other places) Shoreline and Black Diamond (legally cities) and Fall City (a census-designated place with no incorporated government). I believe the only official "towns" in King County are Beaux Arts Village, Yarrow Point, Hunts Point and (rather different from those three, but same legal status) Skykomish, none of which are currently in this category. Jmabel ! talk 18:32, 5 September 2024 (UTC)
- It started as a way to simplify finding communities in the county. There are lots of small communities in King and Pierce County. Only the Category:Cities in King County, Washington had a subcategory. Comparatively, there are few cities compared to the smaller municipalities. Tracing Cities in King County upwards, other states used 'Towns in xxx County' as subcategories. I didn't know the definition in Washington of towns, but assumed such would exist, so I created it.
- Now with further checking, I've found that there is a Category:Municipalities in the United States and it has sub-categories of Category:Cities in the United States, Category:Towns in the United States, Category:Townships in the United States and Category:Unincorporated communities in the United States. Next, I checked for definitions in Washington of Cities (1st): 10,000+ when organized or reorganized (10 in 2024); Cities (2nd):1500+ without a charter when organized or reorganized (5 in 2024). Towns are defined as 1500+ operating under the OMC (Municipal Code) (68 in 2024) and then 'Code' communities, unincorporated with 1500+ without charters (197 in 2024) and many unclassified, which may or may not be 'Census-designated' places. (ref: Municipal Research and Services Center (MRSC).
- Confused, okay, I looked at Oregon. Their state laws define a city as any governmental unit that is incorporated, large places like Portland, every county, every small community, as long as it has been incorporated. A quick look at Indiana and Ohio showed they have legal towns and villages. Without a uniform standard across the U.S. these definition have little meaning, as each state will need a written definition in each category to keep it straight. Also, back east, the reference to a village was common, haven't heard it west of the Great Plains. So, either we continue dropping every communities categories into the general county category and/or the state category or a general definition based on perception needs to be agreed on. I don't think Wikimedia users will have much luck trying to determine if the community in Washington is a Class 1 city, a Class 2 city, a Town or just a 'Code' community. Yes, the title Code is used in the legal references. I haven't seen any references to Townships anywhere west of the plains. If they exist, they're irrelevant to the public.
- For me, I can work with Cities - large, economically significant; Towns - lots of variation, mostly locally significant; Unincorporated or Census-designated, when small or a remnant community, i.e., cross-roads like Category:Krain, Washington. If I don't agree with a selection, I'll ignore it. One is as good as another. In states that are pickier about names, that area can use narrow definitions, i.e., Category:Town of Pines, Indiana. I would prefer a way to remove 33 communities in Category:King County, Washington to a category that's just communities. I'd avoid 'Municipalities' as the Category:Municipalities in the United States is also in a discussion because the word Municipalities is not in any legal definitions, apparently. Chris Light (talk) 21:48, 7 September 2024 (UTC)
- A good generic term in the U.S. is "populated places" (not "municipalities" because unincorporated places are not municipalities). That can be a parent to cities, towns, unincorporated communities, etc. As I say above, "town" has a legal meaning in Washington state (as does "city"), so we have to be very careful with those terms. - Jmabel ! talk 22:58, 7 September 2024 (UTC)