By The NY Times Editorial Board
As politicians in Washington slash budgets and
break promises, local governments are forced to pick up the pieces. New
York City’s 51-member City Council is critical to this effort, trying as
best it can to fill gaps in housing, education, welfare, immigration,
the environment and other important matters.
But attending to big-ticket problems is only
part of the job. Each council member represents the equivalent of a
midsize city — about 160,000 constituents. Calls come in constantly from
people who need help fighting a dishonest landlord or muting a
neighborhood bar or keeping the local deli from shutting its doors.
Council members must also keep a hard eye on the city’s powerful mayor
and his $85 billion budget.
Sadly, New Yorkers as a whole do not give the
City Council races the attention they deserve. Turnout in city primaries
has been lamentably low given the importance of the jobs. In one
district with nearly 50,000 registered Democrats, only about 7,000 are
expected to show up at the polls to pick their candidate.
Click here for the full article.
Source: The Empire Report
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