In part 1 we learned that our elected
representatives represented many more people now than they did at the
founding of our country and of our city.
In part 2 we calculated the impossibility of a member of Congress
visiting with all her / his constituents.
Now we look at the consequences of “overpopulation” on
municipalities.
One would think that, with fewer constituents in
most cases, a city councilor would be able to reach her constituents in less
time than a member of Congress would be able.
However, most city councilors are part-time and have fewer staff to
assist than do members of Congress.
Without
ongoing communication between a city councilor and her constituents, we have
undesired consequences:
*
decisions at city hall do not reflect the desires of constituents,
*
constituents and city staff develop an “us versus them” mentality,
*
constituents who can be helpful in addressing community needs do not
volunteer,
*
constituents think that the lack of communication means that the city
councilor is hiding something, and
* the best
contractors for city services are not always hired.
The upshot
of this is that city government costs more to operate because
* city
councilors do not have the time and constituents do not have the desire to
make the time to check on the work of city contractors;
* city
councilors, not themselves expert, cannot avail themselves of opinions and
expertise which would benefit the city;
* a second review of city disbursements cannot be had, in order
to assure that taxpayer money be well spent;
* the chance increases that there would be sweetheart
deals favoring private entities over constituents.
Note that we can replace the word “city” above with
“county,” “state,” or “federal” and the result would be the
same. Also, note that the above
has nothing to do with the faction in control or out of control in a
municipality. All city
councilors are subject to the problem and all contribute to the problem by
failing to address it.
This separation of city and community can have
unwelcome consequences. One
such consequence is discussed in the next part.
October 25, 2007