Surrey spans six “town centres,” spread across a few-hundred square kilometres. Inside the city limits live well over half a million citizens with eight councillors and a mayor to govern us locally (I think I’ve typed that line or an iteration of it many times).
There has been criticism that the city needs better representation.
Notions have flown around, accusations more like, that our councillors are out of tune with the general class of citizens who live here. While some point to the electoral system, others point to the number of representatives elected, and some use one argument to justify the other.
Residency, however, has been another point raised, at least by some citizens, as one of the main reasons why the current cast of councillors are a poor representation of the general populace that vote them in. Here is a breakdown of where our councillors reside (of course, specific addresses nor names are listed, just the areas in which our councillors live):
- Cloverdale: 3
- South Surrey: 3
- Fleetwood: 1
- Fraser Heights: 1
- Whalley: 1
Update 01/12/2014: Courtesy of Surrey Leader reporter Kevin Diakiw, the above data has been corrected to mirror his information regarding councillor residency.
Now, is this important? In municipal politics, sure. But, I don’t think a city council must necessarily correspond to the general make-up of a city based on residential boundaries, even though the underlying fact is that one’s residence is more often than not synonymous with economic class and/or wealth.
However, it doesn’t require living in an area, a certain neighbourhood, a city, to recognize and understand a given situation. Listening. Research. Analysis. Objectivity. These actions, abstract or not, are skills necessary to govern well. What this means is government, city council, or any elected body whose actions affect a myriad of others, must be embedded in the community, listen to its citizens and respond accordingly.
It doesn’t require living in Whalley or Newton to understand the problems that plague the area. You listen to the residents there, research the facts and churn out an opinion, hopefully a solution, and then return to the people to consult.
Surrey’s CitySpeak program is an exceptional example of trying to incorporate residents in the policy and planning stages of city developments. According to the city website, 1,400 people have already signed up to use the service. I haven’t used the service myself, but it’s the right idea if there’s truly people on the other end receiving the information.
But, I will state this: What does it say about our city if our councillors choose not to live within the city in which they sit on council for? What about their choice of residency within the city?
Surrey BC'er 