COUNCIL: Why wards are better

It was interesting reading about the candidates running for Coeur d’Alene City Council. A question for the candidates: Are you running for Sherman Avenue or for the entire city?

Coeur d’Alene is no longer a village. We are a city and need to be run as one. We need all parts of the city represented.

We need to change our city government from an “at-large” basis to the “ward” system. Never heard of the ward system? The city would be divided into wards, or specific areas. Each ward would have a council person who has to live in the ward they represent and are elected by only those voters who live in that ward. The council people from each ward become the City Council.

The best part of the ward system, and one the current council members would not like, is that the City Council person is responsible to the people in their ward. If the council person is not responding to a specific issue, a phone call is not ignored, as an unresponsive council person soon gets replaced!

Under our current at-large system, have you ever called a council person and gotten a response? Good luck! We haven’t. What is one unhappy voter when the entire city votes for a candidate?

Coeur d’Alene needs a City Council that is interested in the entire city — not just Sherman Avenue.

DICK GARDNER

Coeur d’Alene