The weekend's Henrico County Open is the perfect metaphor for the county's not-so-subtle desire to drive a wedge between itself and Richmond.

The Open, which was played at The Dominion Club in Wyndham, is part of the Nationwide Tour series of developmental golf tournaments. Henrico County Open looks a bit odd among a tournament lineup that includes the Mexico Open, the Knoxville Classic, the Oregon Classic and the Chattanooga Classic. Prince George's County, Md., a suburban Washington locale with a population of about 840,000, is the only other county in the Nationwide lineup to affix its name to a tournament.

If Henrico is trying to replace Richmond in the national and international consciousness, it has some work to do. But within the county limits, a purge of sorts is under way.

Last week, voting began on a county initiative that could result in some 84,000 homes and businesses changing their mailing address from "Richmond, VA" to "Henrico, VA." Henrico officials say the change could recover an estimated $5 million a year in tax revenues that mistakenly get routed to Richmond.

Even if you buy the county's assertion, there's a bogus quality to the argument. The city takes on the bulk of the region's responsibility for the homeless and houses most of its poor. The money the county says has been incorrectly routed to Richmond is a price suburban locales pay for perpetuating the city's urban isolation through Virginia's curious and unique political structure, in which cities are not part of counties.

Once again, we need to seriously look at eliminating the independent-city structure and having Richmond become part of one of its surrounding counties -- most logically Henrico.

That wouldn't sit well with some folks in Henrico who view Richmond as a place of poverty, violence and bad schools and want as little to do with it as possible.

Recent headlines out of the city have not helped matters. Frankly, you can't blame suburbanites for not wanting to be associated with this mess.

Any hope in the suburbs that Richmond would get its act together under its new form of government and Mayor L. Douglas Wilder has dissipated amid a series of disruptive and maddeningly unnecessary controversies.

Amid clear progress in Richmond, three failures come to mind: the pointless and expensive attempted eviction of the Richmond School Board from City Hall; the loss of the Richmond Braves to Gwinnett County, Ga.; and the recent controversy involving Wilder's acceptance of a $700-a-month car allowance while having access to a city vehicle provided by his security unit.

Wilder brought credibility and experience to the job and could have been a rallying point for a fractured region. The former governor could have gone to the General Assembly to attack the structure that keep the city mired in regional isolation, unable to expand through annexation but isolated from its suburbs.

Yes, Richmond has more than its share of problems. But is distancing ourselves from the region's hub the answer or a self-defeating approach?

Richmond's is an age-old name with more international cachet than Henrico County's, but the city's neighbors are being asked to flee from it. Some might call the approval of the "Henrico, VA" name change the final insult. But in this region, it would be par for the course.
Contact Michael Paul Williams at (804) 649-6815 or mwilliams@timesdispatch.com.