They absolutely were. I've never been more adamant about a ballot measure in my life. - ThreadSky

typewriteralley.bsky.social • 53 days ago

They absolutely were. I've never been more adamant about a ballot measure in my life.

Reposted from Erica C. Barnett

In conclusion, council districts were a mistake.

Comments

rbtwzrd.bsky.social•53 days ago

Why’s that?

wsbikeblog.bsky.social•53 days ago

If I have a specific issue in my neighborhood, I have one person representing me (plus two at-large) so if they choose to ignore me, the rest of council has no reason to listen to me either as I didn’t vote in their district.

Everyone being city-wide means consequences for ignoring majorities.

io-est.bsky.social•53 days ago

Districts were a nice idea but obviously some issues in practice. I mean, imo mass organizing matters way more than any structure. but what if districts were smaller and also HALF the council was elected at large? balance the scales a bit. This city is too big to be managed by 9 people, let's try 20

wsbikeblog.bsky.social•53 days ago

A smarter person that I can speak to what would be more or less effective, but I was fascinated to find that Amsterdam has 45 city council members representing 12 different political parties.

io-est.bsky.social•53 days ago

and I just saw in Ryan's other post that we used to have 25 so obviously my idea of 20 is not dreaming big enough lol

It would rock to have room for some more parties rather than have every political ideology under the sun labeled as "Democrat'

rbtwzrd.bsky.social•53 days ago

Is there a fundamental operational reforms movement or org in Seattle that would push this kind of thing ?

pedestrianman.bsky.social•53 days ago

https://www.lewis.ucla.edu/2022/03/30/23-political-representation-and-housing-supply-with-michael-hankinson/

connor-stein.bsky.social•53 days ago

I assume it's unlikely to be undone? This change happened before I moved to Seattle so I don't have all the context. Feels like something that was probably touted as increasing local control but actually is less democratic as evidenced by today's meeting.

robertcruickshank.com•53 days ago

I disagree. Berkeley is districted and now has a YIMBY majority - and it was a key NIMBY citadel. The problem is with organizing, election results, and the specific people on the council now.

ravenmcampbell.bsky.social•53 days ago

I feel like they work pretty well in Everett, too, although maybe that's because the eyes of the news generally aren't constantly on Everett.

owenpick.bsky.social•53 days ago

The most generous interpretation here is that city-wide v. districts don't matter.

mattbaume.bsky.social•53 days ago

This seems correct to me. I’m not aware of any truly effective organizing that’s reaching “normal” voters in Seattle, by which I mean people who are not terminally tuned in to local politics. My neighbors have ZERO idea what’s going on with city council, ballot measures, etc.

hernando206.bsky.social•53 days ago

I am regularly reminded how little my friends, neighbors, and kids' friends' parents know about city politics outside of major headline issues (i.e. the West Seattle Bridge failure or the CHOP/CHAZ). The actual number of people who are clued in is relatively small!

nicksattele.bsky.social•53 days ago

Now that we have ranked voting, a lot of the pitfalls from at-large can be avoided.

Ex: with one ballot, if 1/9 of the city ranks someone first, they’ll be elected. Today you need 1/2 citywide or 1/2 of 1/7th in a district.

And in a 40% nonwhite city, white people have a plurality in each district

kasota.bsky.social•53 days ago

When does this take effect?

tallchris.bsky.social•53 days ago

Not till 2027: https://kingcounty.gov/en/dept/elections/ranked-choice-voting-in-seattle

kasota.bsky.social•53 days ago

Weird, so they will be ranked choice district primaries that lead to district top 2s?

esexto.bsky.social•53 days ago

The issue on racial representation is partially reflective of being less segregated than the average

Also, D2 had an Asian plurality in 2010, but not in 2020 (though this may have been a Census undercount and is on the old D2)

https://belonging.berkeley.edu/most-least-segregated-cities
https://www.seattle.gov/Documents/Departments/OPCD/Demographics/DecennialCensus/2020%20PL%20Report%20Council%20District.pdf

nicksattele.bsky.social•53 days ago

Yea but a minority (racial, ideological, etc) shouldn’t have to be segregated to be represented

esexto.bsky.social•53 days ago

I agree in principle obviously (segregation is bad, representation is good!) but am unsure what the connection to districts is? If we reverted to at-large, there would be a white majority in each.

Or is the point that the current system doesn't protect minority representation in any meaningful way?

nicksattele.bsky.social•53 days ago

If we had one, ranked ballot with multiple winners, representation would be greater

chadnewt.bsky.social•53 days ago

Just copy Portland's new system, except add a few at-large positions to ensure an odd-numbered council size.

mattbaume.bsky.social•53 days ago

I have such mixed feelings about this. On one hand, SF’s switch to district elections in the 1970s is how they finally got Harvey Milk on the board of supervisors. It was vital for diversity. On the other hand… that is definitely not what’s going on with the system we have now in Seattle!

owenpick.bsky.social•53 days ago

The (positive) geographic arguments for districts rest on segregation.

There are no coherent geographic representations in cities without stark segregation.

rokksula.theremins.club•53 days ago

Same effect could easily be achieved by having 40-50 representatives on the council, with some sort of a ranked / multiple choice voting scheme.

crowshair.bsky.social•53 days ago

Seems like districts were fine a few years ago and we just got a bad slate. Having Gonzalez, Mosqueda, and Morales all give up their seats for various reasons hasn't helped.

sharethecities.bsky.social•53 days ago

10000000%

jrspnw.bsky.social•53 days ago

It’s a double-edged sword since at-large districts wouldn’t be great for some of our most marginalized neighborhoods.

I’m intrigued by Portland’s new structure for their city council (multi-member via ranked-choice voting). I hope it works for them and, if it does, becomes a model for others.

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