I live in a development in an unincorporated area of my county, just east of the city of Redmond, WA, but not close enough to be annexed by said city. The county in which my neighbors and I reside takes our tax money (interestingly, they charge us more in taxes than I ever paid when I lived in the city of Redmond -- not just in absolute dollars, but as a percentage, as well) and spends it in downtown Seattle (the county seat) rather than spending it here.

Then, when something needs to be done out here, they'll mandate that we (as residents of a development) fund it out-of-pocket through our homeowners associations.

That's obviously an oversimplification of a much more complicated process, but you get the gist. Some of us are not happy with this arrangement, and are starting to explore the idea of incorporating this area into a city, which would bring some of those tax dollars back to us.

But, if we can and do incorporate, what would we name this new city? "East Redmond?" "Redmond Heights?" "Redmond Hills?"

The name is a marketing choice: after all, the residents here would have to vote on incorporation, and they probably wouldn't vote to incorporate "Irving, Washington," no matter how funny that would be.

Here are some other names I'd love to try, but might be problematic. I've checked to make sure they haven't been taken, for the sake of the exercise. (George is already taken, for example):

* President
* General
* Carver
* District of Columbia
* Notgnihsaw
* Wa Wa

More seriously, why not pick a name to commemorate the traditions of our large Indian population?

* Diwali (literally, "festival of lights")

Or, for that matter, the aboriginal Native Americans?

* Tlahwahdees (the original name of a local Sammamish settlement)
* Simump (another name for the Sammamish tribe)
* Willows (the Sammamish were known as "willow dwellers"; there is already a local street by this name)

What do you think? Any suggestions? Have fun with it!