Voters to decide whether Detroit City Council should be elected by district

**irish_mafia** · August-26-09, 02:17 PM

Why did they leave 2 seats at large?

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...E/908269994/-1

**R8RBOB** · August-26-09, 02:23 PM

Since this was crafted by a politician, one word comes to mind: compromise

The one problem I have against this proposal is that the city council president would be chosen between the two highest at-large votegeter.

**kraig** · August-26-09, 02:29 PM

If this passes, won't it undermine the Charter Commission's ability to have all of the Council Members voted in by district? If one of the at-large members seat is vacated, the city will still have to spend 3 million dollars for a special election. That's not good.

**HazenPingree** · August-26-09, 02:45 PM

In meeting many of the candidates, I believe that most charter candidates are advocates for council by districts and proponents of the hybrid system. Myself, I see advantages to both a district only system and a hybrid system like Prop. D.

With a district only council, I believe that there is the potential for the council to become fragmented and too focused on their own districts, perhaps losing sight of downtown and the city as a whole. I believe that, ideally, the hybrid system will grant the council a more holistic perspective and simultaneously allow voters to democratically select their council president, while, through the addition of districts, building a more accountable and responsive legislative branch.

Stosh · August-26-09, 02:49 PM

Originally Posted by andylinn

In meeting many of the candidates, I believe that most charter candidates are advocates for council by districts and proponents of the hybrid system. Myself, I see advantages to both a district only system and a hybrid system like Prop. D.

With a district only council, I believe that there is the potential for the council to become fragmented and too focused on their own districts, perhaps losing sight of downtown and the city as a whole. I believe that, ideally, the hybrid system will grant the council a more holistic perspective and simultaneously allow voters to democratically select their council president, while, through the addition of districts, building a more accountable and responsive legislative branch.

Nonsense. The rest of the city needs attention. Losing sight of Downtown would be the best thing the city could do.

LodgeDodger · August-26-09, 03:18 PM

Originally Posted by Stosh

Nonsense. The rest of the city needs attention. Losing sight of Downtown would be the best thing the city could do.

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**DetroitPlanner** · August-26-09, 03:42 PM

Originally Posted by Stosh

Nonsense. The rest of the city needs attention. Losing sight of Downtown would be the best thing the city could do.

No kiddin' no one has ever really thought about the possibility that downtown is empty is because many neighborhoods are in shambles. You need to have strong neighborhoods to support a downtown. There is only so much you can rely on spectator sports and casinos. These don't fill offices and stores. People want to live near work, and if the neighborhoods are not attractive for residents then the downtown won't have a real base for jobs.

**maxx** · August-27-09, 10:20 AM

Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

No kiddin' no one has ever really thought about the possibility that downtown is empty is because many neighborhoods are in shambles. You need to have strong neighborhoods to support a downtown. There is only so much you can rely on spectator sports and casinos. These don't fill offices and stores. People want to live near work, and if the neighborhoods are not attractive for residents then the downtown won't have a real base for jobs.

Detroit needs jobs. Without a tax base, the city can't provide the police protection, garbage pickup, basic cleanup and services for the neighborhoods. As you say, people like to live near their jobs.

**gnome** · August-26-09, 02:52 PM

The Charter Commission has a 3-year reign starting in January '10. The outside time-frame allows that the New Charter will not be in front of the voters until the fall of 2014. Nothing says that the Charter Commission will include District representation. In fact, the new Charter Commission can decide to not change the current Charter at all. The next scheduled Charter update is in 2019. The 2019 Charter Commission will also have 3 years to review and advise.

That means there is a possibility District representation will be off the ballot until - maybe 2022.

On the cannard of Special Elections...we will always have Special Elections until which time someone can insure that people will stop dying in office or going to hoosgow.

**48202** · August-27-09, 11:31 PM

This link contains the language of the ballot proposal:
http://councilbydistricts.org/files/...t_election.pdf

I look at the two at-large seats as an opportunity for the voters to directly elect the president and president pro tempore. When candidates run for the two at-large seats, voters will determine whether or not they have the experience and knowledge to be elected to these positions. That is definitely better than the current system.