The Vancouver City Council has a serious contactability and accountability problem. It is aided by the citywide voting system that we have. Because we have citywide elections for the council, rather than districts, no city resident has a representative on the council.
The National League of Cities is a nonprofit organization that fosters good government in local jurisdictions. It lists three advantages of district elections: better representation, more sensitivity to important problems and reduction in voter alienation. In California, more than 150 cities have made the change from voting citywide to districts, many because of legal challenges.
Our citywide elections have allowed our councilors to stay hidden and unresponsive. Questions that residents have can only be sent to the council’s website and are never answered. No individual councilor makes contact information available.
For example, the Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council is taking action on road safety and there are two Vancouver council members on the board. All board members have a “website” link next to their names. The two Vancouver council members are the only ones for whom the link goes to a dead site.
A district voting system would be of great benefit to Vancouver residents. We deserve to have it.
