Charter Review: Brian’s plan for Council
If you’ve been itching for that Council reduction fight to get started already, your time may have arrived. My Councilman, Brian Cummins of Ward 15, has a plan.  Well, actually, three plans, but they all involve at least two fewer ward Council members than Marty Sweeney’s plan. And two of them involve at-large seats. And he’s already got PD coverage.
Brian has signed up to make a presentation to the Charter Review Commission tomorrow morning.
I’m looking forward to asking why this obsession with the size of Council as a response to the city’s population loss (a loss driven by some real crises like foreclosures, crime, education failure, and community disintegration) is more than just an argument about what color to paint the screws in the deck chairs on the Titanic. Also exactly how fewer councilmen with more constituents and bigger campaign fundraising requirements will improve life in Ward 15.
Maybe Councilman Cummins has some of those answers we’ve been waiting for. Stay tuned.
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:57 pm
This is merely a work-avoidance drill on their part; if they are preoccupied writing term papers and devotional pieces on company time, they don’t have to come to grips with actually doing anything difficult. It’s like Frank Mills’ concept of the flaneur, the French dilettante and man about town who walks about, and talks, and writes, and observes, yet barely lifts a finger to do anything significant or remotely resembling work.
July 6th, 2008 at 6:48 am
The trend in prime-time reality game shows is that someone is eliminated each week. There is conniving and manipulating amongst the contestants to keep their spot on the show. In theory each council-member can rationalize reducing the number of council seats. So long as it isn’t their own seat. But they need allies to make sure they keep their own seats. They may all as well each be allies to every other council member.
May 8th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
[...] Brian Cummins’ Proposals for City Council Size Reduction (PDF file format) (courtesy of Bill Callahan) [...]