COUNCIL ELECTION SYSTEM IS NEGLECTED, NOT BROKEN

A petition drive is under way in Cape Girardeau calling into question the way city council members are elected here. The petitioners have again raised the question of whether this city would be better served by ward representation. We contend it would not. In addition, we believe the petitioners are soliciting a cure that has nothing to do with the problems they perceive.

The petition calls for dividing the city into six zones made up of two or three voting precincts. Persons living within those geographical areas would run for council seats to represent those zones. The at-large election of council members would cease.

Our objection here is not with the petition. Petitioning to change the municipal government is a legitimate remedy made available in the City Charter; in fact, this particular effort shows a citizen participation that is at the heart of our opinion. What we object to, however, is the reasoning being promoted by the petitioners that the system is the problem. Our argument is that the system is not the problem ... and, if it isn't, there is no reason to tinker with the charter.

To make our case, we will dissect the assertions of those involved in the petition drive and the recently formed Citizens Action Group for Responsive Government, which is supporting the effort.

A recurring complaint of those supporting ward representation is that all council members tend to live in one area of the city. Of the current city elected officials, all but one live north of Cape Rock Drive, said Gary Bunting at a meeting of the Responsive Government group (Southeast Missourian, July 3). A look beyond this fact may provide a reason for this: people north of Cape Rock Drive participate in city elections to a greater extent than some areas of the city.

The chart located at right details voter participation in the last four city council general elections. As suggested in the statement, the chart has been divided between those wards whose polling places are north of Cape Rock Drive and those south. As a rule, voter participation is dismal citywide, but it is particularly low in some areas of the city these petitioners say are being ignored.

"I'm sorry to say that the south end of town is forgotten by the city management," said Opal McManus, who is working on the petition drive (Southeast Missourian, June 26). The facts do not bear this out. The city of Cape Girardeau has received five Community Development Block Grants totaling about $2.6 million for revitalizing older neighborhoods. With the first four grants, more than 100 houses were improved and 17 streets were paved. Three of those five grants have been used in neighborhoods south of William Street.

McManus also pointed out that the city "badly needs" a black city council member. "That will never happen unless we have a ward system," she said (Southeast Missourian, June 26). Her implication is that a black will never be elected to the council unless "black wards" are created in which they can run. While we agree with her that a city the size of Cape Girardeau needs racial diversity on its council, going about it in this way hardly seems democratic. Johnny James, a black, certainly didn't need a racially carved ward to be elected to the Cape Girardeau school board in 1990. We believe in, like we support in business and athletics, electing the best person for the job, regardless of religion, sex, color, and so on.

If black citizens choose to elect a black council member, what is to prevent them from doing so with the at-large system now in place? At the time the 1990 census was taken, there were 1,759 blacks of voting age in Cape Girardeau. Two blacks have sought council seats in the last eight years. In 1984, one received 253 votes in a nine-candidate primary, and in 1990, the other received 780 votes in an eight-candidate primary. Neither of the candidates advanced to the general election.

Lawrence Godfrey, who is spearheading the petition drive, said ward representation is "more democratic" than at-large elections (Southeast Missourian, June 26). There are 16,556 people registered to vote in the city of Cape Girardeau. Each of them, regardless of where they live, gets the same vote. Each of them gets a chance to pick members of the city council. What could be more democratic than that? The fact is that only 3,830 of those 16,556 cast ballots in April to seat the current city council.

The at-large system of electing council members is not broken. It is only neglected.