Citizens call council aloof, aren’t sure what it does
One voter says she’ll select ‘Whatever name sounds good at the time’
|
Photos by David Coates / The Detroit News
Elgie Fulks, 52, believes City Council members have set themselves apart from the voters and their daily concerns.
Ball
Bridges
|
By Cameron McWhirter / The Detroit News
DETROIT — Asked about what Detroit City Council does, Ray Williams smiled and looked at the sidewalk.
“It really doesn’t impact us,” said the 44-year-old west sider. “I don’t really know what issues they deal with.”
Across Detroit, many residents share Williams’ view: confusion battles in their minds with indifference over the council. In the Sept. 11 primary, only 22.62 percent of registered Detroit voters cast ballots, and one in four of those didn’t mark nine names among the 97 council candidates, as they were instructed to do.
Elgie Fulks, 52, raking leaves on Maine on the east side, said the council has remained aloof from voters and their daily needs.
“When you set yourself at a distance, apart from me, then I am distanced from you,” he said. “The council, they set themselves high up here, so we don’t relate. I don’t know how to communicate with you. If I have a problem, I call you and I get voicemail.”
Jajuan Ball, 26, who lives on Buffalo on the east side, said he has never seen a council candidate, let alone an elected council member, walk down his street.
“Ain’t nobody going door-to-door asking for votes or what people think,” said the auto-supply salesman. “At least not around here.”
In the upcoming general election on Nov. 6, Yolanda Bridges plans to vote. She knows who she wants for mayor, though she isn’t saying. But when it comes to choosing nine members for the City Council, she has no idea what she will do.
“I’m just going to pick nine at random,” said Bridges, 33, as she stood on her front lawn on Quincy, on the west side. “Whatever names sound good at the time. I have no idea about any of these people. They don’t have anything to do with me or my life.”
