Put it all together and you have a system easily dominated by insiders that is sometimes run for the benefit of the few, sometimes for no discernible benefit to anyone, but then there is this: Back away from it, fuzz your eyes a little, rake the skyline with your gaze, and what do you see? I see a whole bunch of cranes. I see stuff happening, some of it stupid but much of it pretty great. As long as the arrangement keeps clogging along and doesn't step too hard on the wrong toes, I don't think the vast majority of people will want to take on the sheer bother of changing it.
Writing in the
Dallas Observer's blog
Unfair Park, Jim Schutze is talking about the city council system in Dallas and how the city's single member districts influence how power is wielded in that city. Richardson has council members elected at large, but the general observation still holds: as long as "stuff" is happening, voters are unlikely to push too strongly for changing the system.
That set me to thinking (I know, always a dangerous practice). After the jump, unfinished business in Richardson.
