While I agree wholeheartedly that the public should be heavily involved in the process of choosing the preferred map, I think its critical that folks remember that THESE districts are just about who you get to vote for in your neighborhood. Peoples' expectations need to remain realistic. Your district council member will have no more power than s/he does now and their primary responsibility will continue to be approving the budget. PERIOD.

The council FUNDS departments, but they will not be able to control how the department manages its resources to provide services within each district. That will continue to be the mayor's job. We should ALL continue to receive the same level [[or lack of ) of City service regardless of where we live and who is our elected council representative. There should be no special favors between the mayor any district representatives for extra resources for a particular district. That will just lead to another type of corruption. And isn't that what we we're trying to get away from?

Don't overthink this district model. We are a City that is 85% black.