http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/01/30/campaign-for-district-elections-will-finally-begin-circulating-petitions Comments On: Campaign for District Elections Will Finally Begin Circulating Petitions by Anna Minard en-us Copyright 2013 The Stranger. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, The Stranger readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Sun, 26 May 2013 00:00:01 -0700 Sun, 26 May 2013 01:30:00 -0700 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Posted by TobyinFremont]]> Sat, 02 Feb 2013 22:58:52 -0800 The Stranger Posted by kk in seattle]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 19:04:29 -0800 The Stranger Posted by kk in seattle]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 18:50:59 -0800 The Stranger
In case you haven't been paying attention, the U.S. Senate is still Democratic. It's the House that's Republican in a majority Democratic country, because Republicans control many state legislatures and draw Congressional districts so as to allow a majority of Republican districts (out of 435).

If S.E. Seattle wants to elect a "Bernie Sanders" as their district representative, who are you to sneer at their choice? That's what representative democracy is all about. Perhaps if enough "Bernie Sanders" were elected we'd actually move toward the just society many if not most of us want. If elected officials don't reflect the politics of a majority of their constituents, they should be voted out of office; districts make that a lot easier to do.

#35: What's the last time you met with any city council member? How well did he/she understand the issue(s) you raised? And how did they respond to your concern; did you get what you wanted from your contact with “your” city council members? You're basically saying we should have a legislature elected at large state-wide. How well do you think that would work? Over 600,000 and growing is way too large a city for a small town at-large council. Too many demographics and geographies are disenfranchised.
Posted by TobyinFremont]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 18:36:00 -0800 The Stranger your representative is interested and in agreement with you on your issue.

If not, you're totally fucked.

Right now, if one Councilperson isn't interested in championing your idea/concern/change you can always try and bend the ear of another. Try that under a District Election system and those other ones will just laugh you out of their offices!

(Assuming they'd even deign to give you --a voter from someone else's District-- a meeting with them in the first place!)
Posted by Timrrr]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 14:31:13 -0800 The Stranger
This particular plan GUARANTEES that two of the councilmembers who have to run at large will represent downtown, in addition to the downtown member. The SE councilmember will be the Bernie Sanders (or Jim McDermott) of the City Council, permanently marginalized and always handed the crappiest, least consequential committee assignment. And the other eight councilmembers will finally--finally!--be able to stop pretending they give a flying fuck about SE Seattle.
Posted by kk in seattle]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 14:20:10 -0800 The Stranger 1997 Seattle Times article. I'm not sure "prominent" applies; I was not involved in that organization.
Posted by TobyinFremont]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 12:12:46 -0800 The Stranger
@28. Way to add to the conversation.

Posted by Rotten666]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 11:58:21 -0800 The Stranger
That's a pretty ignorant statement. It might have been true 30 years ago, but I don't think there is a single Councilmember at the moment who was a prominent neighborhood activist before taking office.

And you say the city is giving big contracts to neighborhood "insiders"? Can you cite one?
Posted by J.R.]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 11:26:08 -0800 The Stranger Posted by TobyinFremont]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 11:11:42 -0800 The Stranger Posted by hmmmmm]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 11:06:00 -0800 The Stranger in other news...)


Posted by K]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 11:02:58 -0800 The Stranger
Community councils have indeed been a starting point or way station for some politicians on the way to city hall, including mayors. So what? You'd prefer they come exclusively from law and architect firms and Developers Inc., LLC? Talk about "quasi-private and not subject to public disclosure." Check out the connections of those who contribute the most to council/mayor reelection campaigns; that info at least is public.

Community/neighborhood councils are not "patronage machines." The do have authority to direct modest funds (e.g., "small and simple", transportation gap grants) to specific projects, but the process is very open. Even so, neighborhood organizations have much less power in Seattle than they did before Nichols became mayor. Their ability to influence the real decisions, like land use/zoning, city capital project siting, transportation infrastructure, even just basic planning, is very attenuated.

The disenfranchised are left with litigation, or... running a charter amendment to restore a modicum of democratic governance to the urban power structure.
Posted by TobyinFremont]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 09:58:20 -0800 The Stranger Posted by hmmmmm]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 08:21:52 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Joe Szilagyi]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 08:12:09 -0800 The Stranger Posted by hmmmmm]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 07:52:49 -0800 The Stranger
The problem with inequitable representation to a legislative body at the city level is a very different beast. Your suggestion is like saying we should elect the mayor by districts--winner is the one who gets most votes in four or more districts.
Posted by TobyinFremont]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 07:29:07 -0800 The Stranger
In this system it's about 88,000 people to 1. A tremendous amount of power will return by voice to each district. It also means you during elections can ignore the rest of the city, lowering costs of running for office.
Posted by Joe Szilagyi]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 06:10:39 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Justin]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 05:31:57 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Charlie Mas]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 04:45:46 -0800 The Stranger Posted by abomb]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 03:49:10 -0800 The Stranger Posted by gloomy gus]]> Wed, 30 Jan 2013 22:55:48 -0800 The Stranger Posted by DOUG.]]> Wed, 30 Jan 2013 22:24:45 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Anna Minard]]> Wed, 30 Jan 2013 22:24:42 -0800 The Stranger
I will decline to sign.
Posted by I Got Nuthin']]> Wed, 30 Jan 2013 22:22:06 -0800 The Stranger