cincinnati - 7 councilmenI made a couple of attempts to respond in the comments, but enetation is refusing posts again, so I'll do it here.
columbus - 9 councilmen
pittsburgh - 9 councilmen
detroit - 9 councilmen
philadelphia - 16 councilmen
(over 1.5 million residents)
cleveland - 21 councilmen less than 500,000 residents
give me a break!!!!!!!!!!!
Cincinnati, Columbus and Detroit are among the few big cities that have all-at-large Councils (no wards, everyone's elected citywide). Are their voters happy with the results? This is a question worth investigating, and since I know lots of people in Columbus and Cincinnati, I think I'll do just that. (Comments from both cities welcome here.) Here's a pretty good clue from Detroit... the major "civic reform" movement there this summer is a ballot issue to return to district representation.
But the question of at-large vs. ward councils is different from the question of size. And here "Mike" is right: Cleveland's ratio of one elected council member for each 23,000 residents is among the highest in big American cities. Chicago has fifty aldermen, but they represent two million people; St. Louis has 29 councilman for 340,000 residents, but that's considered controversial, like ours. So let's take "Mike"'s point as a given: Cleveland has a big City Council for the size of our population.
To which I say: So what?
As I've pointed out here before, one elected official directly responsible to each 23,000 residents is still a lot less than most suburban residents enjoy. Beachwood's 12,000 people elect a fulltime $80,000-a-year mayor and seven part-time council representatives. Rocky River, with a 20,000+ population similar to a Cleveland ward, also has a mayor and seven council members. Brook Park, same size population, one mayor and eight council members. The average population of all Cuyahoga County municipalities outside Cleveland was 21,000 in the last census, 2,000 fewer than the average Cleveland ward... and each of those cities and villages has its own mayor (or manager) and multiple elected legislators.
"Mike" might say this is why we have too many governments and need to consolidate them. I say, fine, but first ask yourself: Which of these municipal governments provide the best services now? Which cities are attracting the most development? Where do people move when they have the choice? Where do bank executives, lawyers, newspaper editors, and former Cleveland City Council members choose to buy homes?
Why, in smaller cities with bigger elected official-to-voter ratios, of course. Places where you can get the mayor on the phone personally if you need to, and councilmen eat in the same restaurants and go to the same supermarket as you do. Places where government is human scale.
So why is it that human scale democracy is fine for suburbanites, but an outrageous extravagance for those of us who live in city neighborhoods?
I believe Cleveland's councilman-to-resident ratio is actually one of Cleveland's few civic strengths compared to other cities. In fact, I'll go so far as to say that without the civic capacity provided by ward council members, the city would now have a lot fewer new homes and stores, a lot more areas that are virtually unlivable due to blight and crime, and lot fewer middle-class residents than we have. I know that's a major heresy, of course, so I'll save the argument for another post.
Here I'll just conclude by asking: Okay, "Mike", we've got more Councilmen per resident than Pittsburgh or Columbus. Why is that bad?
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