Originally Posted by
mam2009
The one person you hold accountable is the one person who IS accountable in a strong-mayor form of government -- THE MAYOR. The district model we have voted for doesn't give the Council any more power than they currently have. The only real accountability they should have is to be a strong advocate for you. For example, it seems like State Rep. Rashida Talib [[forgive me if I spelled her name wrong) is a very strong advocate for her district, but should her constituents "vote [[her) out of office" because of legislation passed by the Republican led state House and Senate and approved by the Governor Snyder, or for crowded lines at the Secretary of State's office, or for the grass not being cut on state highways and roads, etc?
Forgive me for not elaborating and, therefore, not being clear. Typically, citizens fear dilution of their vote [[where their vote is inconsequential to the outcome of elections) when district lines are drawn or re-drawn. The vast majority of the citizens in Detroit are not only black, but also vote Democratic, so vote dillution is not an issue to 85% of the citizens who live here. Hopefully, districts will make it easier for you and your neighbors to pick a district council member that you are more familiar with, whom you believe has integrity, intelligence, good judgment, a helpful heart and who is in tune with the needs of your geographic area. That's all that's really needed in our district system. And if you happen to live in a district border area where your interests are served by two Council members, then, hopefully, you just have one extra advocate [[or voice) for your geographic area.
Due to the fact that the City Council has not been granted any additional powers that would increase its level of accountability for the delivery of city services, the drawing of these district lines means only one thing -- the unique viewpoint of each geographic district's voters should be a part of City Council deliberations on the budget & land-use matters, etc. That's it. As far as whether my streetlight gets turned on or not, I do hope that my Council member has a great relationship with the mayor. Otherwise if I rely solely on him or her to get my light on, I might be up a creek.
But we should also remember that in politics, the relationship another district's Council member has with the Mayor may be better than the one my Council member has. And often those kinds of good relationships come with a price. And sometimes those prices lead to corruption or, at the very least, an unfair playing field.