Among the items that voters will decide in the upcoming election is a recommendation from our City government analysis board to increase the number of City Commissioners from five to seven.
The stated reason for the change is be to increase the likelihood of geographic diversity among our commissioners. However, this proposal does nothing to guarantee such diversity; it only puts two more at-large seats at the table.
I am not sure where I stand on at-large representation of the commission vs. having commissioners run from areas or wards. However, this proposal only talks around that issue and does not really deal with it.
In addition, this proposal could excacerbate the problem being cited by the proposal's backers. Under such a regime, we could very well have seven commissioners from the same part of town instead of five.
Fundamentally, I oppose this proposal because it is poorly thought out, ineffective and therefore philosophically dishonest. I encourage you to vote against it.
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