Austin is the largest city in Texas to not have single-member districts for its city council, which means that all candidates running for office have to campaign to everyone in town (est. pop. 709,000) and they have to then represent and speak for everyone in town equally. I’ve wanted single-member districts in Austin since I moved here, because it would be good for several reasons. Different areas of town with different needs and wants would have one person fighting for those needs and wants, people would have a specific council member to go to about problems in their area, and it would be someone who lived in that area, it would bring some measure of diversity to the council, and maybe most importantly, running for city council wouldn’t cost so much that only rich people could consider doing so (most members spent about $100,000).

With luck, Austin voters will get a chance to vote on this issue again in May 2008. We have had chances to vote on it in the past, and it has always failed … because I don’t think Austin voters know WHY it would be a good thing to do. If it gets put on the ballot again, I am going to make it one of my missions to get the word out on the reasons we need this to happen and get some apathetic voters mobilized.

If it should pass and Austin gets single-member districts for our city council, I will tell you without hesitation right now, I will be running for office. I’ve wanted to run for city council many times in the past, but a) I don’t have an extra $100,000 laying around gathering dust, and b) while I might be able to convince the people in my own area to vote for me, I wouldn’t be able to get all of Austin to vote for me.

One of my platform points? We want some damn curbs, sidewalks, storm drainage, and more than one streetlight per block on our residential streets. You want to get rid of crime in this area? Those things would help a whole hell of a lot with that … and it would make many of us very happy. Additionally, it would annoy the Insane Neighbors, which is just a special bonus.