  Swiburn Member Username: Swiburn Post Number: 201 Registered: 07-2006 |
I remember a Free Press story stating that maybe council members should be elected from wards instead of at-large. That way maybe they'd be more attention to the neighborhoods if they had to actually live in them. I believe that right now the council lives in places like luxury apts. on the river. There are pros and cons, but I favor the ward system for more responsiveness to the neighborhoods. | ||
Briankm Member Username: Briankm Post Number: 1 Registered: 08-2007 |
Detroit is one of the only major cities in the US to have a city council at large. Make them rep a given area and they will have to "give and take" and maybe get a little more done. Maybe all would show for mettings once in a while. Unfortunately, unless someone gets it on a ballot, it will never happen. Too bad. | ||
Innovator Member Username: Innovator Post Number: 74 Registered: 07-2006 |
"I believe that right now the council lives in places like luxury apts. on the river." Want to prove this? | ||
Lefty2 Member Username: Lefty2 Post Number: 12 Registered: 07-2007 |
Only if the city council can prove they are helping the citizens of detroit. they live in a lala dream land. | ||
Detroit313 Member Username: Detroit313 Post Number: 442 Registered: 02-2006 |
I would vote for At-large bids. I think the city council is sub-par. <313> | ||
Susanarosa Member Username: Susanarosa Post Number: 1595 Registered: 11-2003 |
Council salary is approx. $82,000/yr. You all act like they're making six figures. | ||
Dougw Member Username: Dougw Post Number: 1842 Registered: 11-2003 |
The council members are actually pretty well scattered across the city. Still, I would be very strongly in favor of a city council elected from wards (preferably with one or two at-large seats as a sort of back up). It's not a panacea but it really would help with accountability and attention for the various districts/neighborhoods. quote: Someone just needs to get off their ass, organize some signature gatherers, and make it happen. I do believe that if a good council-by-district proposal made it on the ballot, it would pass. | ||
Goat Member Username: Goat Post Number: 9669 Registered: 10-2003 |
Wards are much better as I have pointed out numerous times but if you have a dead-beat councillor it doesn't matter whichsystem you have you are still going to get screwed. | ||
Detroitplanner Member Username: Detroitplanner Post Number: 1348 Registered: 04-2006 |
I don't like Wards. I once bught a shirt from the Ward's on Grand River at Greenfield and it fell apart in weeks! I can't imagine why a store would sell people. I have seen stores like Woolworths that sell birds, are you suggesting that we get rid of council and replace them with birds? | ||
Dougw Member Username: Dougw Post Number: 1843 Registered: 11-2003 |
Here's what happend with the previous 2005 effort to put a Council By Districts measure on the ballot (from this article) -- quote: Apparently, they got started late and then ran out of time before the November ballot. Here's the original Detroiters for Reform webpage from 2005, courtesy of the Internet Archive/Wayback Machine: http://web.archive.org/web/200 51225201407/http://www.reformd etroit.org/ Also, this Detroit Regional Chamber article goes a bit into examining a ward vs. at-large structure for the council: http://www.detroitchamber.com/ public_affairs/index.asp?cid=4 &rcid=1184 | ||
English Member Username: English Post Number: 554 Registered: 10-2003 |
^ I signed that petition. Sometime before that, it was actually put on a ballot, but got voted down. If at first you don't succeed, dust yourself off and try again. Metro Detroiters get discouraged far too easily. | ||
Dougw Member Username: Dougw Post Number: 1844 Registered: 11-2003 |
I believe the last time it actually made it to the ballot (and was voted down) was back in the 70's? Can someone verify? | ||
Detroit313 Member Username: Detroit313 Post Number: 443 Registered: 02-2006 |
" Council salary is approx. $82,000/yr. " Yeah, but they have a $million dollar expense account for staff! <313> | ||
Michigansheik Member Username: Michigansheik Post Number: 225 Registered: 09-2005 |
we have a council of 9 that at one time served 2million. but our city is less than 900k maybe we could do well with 7 or 5? wards create mini empires the at least the empires would compete against each other which in the end would mean faster action on issues like crime, litter, codes so let the empire begin! |
