Proposed Change to City Council

The Austin American Statesman reports that a “Petition with 33,000 signatures calls for 10-district City Council plan.”  A citizen group, Austinites for Geographic Representation, has led an effort to change the way the city of Austin elects its city council members. Currently, six city council members are elected citywide.  The group hopes to expand the number of council members to ten with each member representing a geographic region of the city. Although the initiative will already be on the November ballot, the group symbolically produced a petition with 33,000 signatures, 10,000 more than is required to place an initiative on the ballot. The council has produced a hybrid proposal that would increase the number of council members to eight, but opponents argue that this would not change the current majority Central and West Austin hold on the council. This article is worth reading because it directly affects all students enrolled in this course, assuming those attending Austin Community College live in the city of Austin.  It is unfair to have only the interests of a couple regions of the city represented on the council. With an ever growing population, it is important that all areas of Austin have their voices heard. This article provides a nice introduction to an issue voters will have to decide upon in November.