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(A discussion of who should or shouldn't be on a city council got me ruminating).
Speaking only for myself, it seems to me the whole point of the city council is to represent the "common man (or woman)" which requires common men and women to be on the city council.
Honestly, the work of the city council isn't that complicated - it is more a matter of making judgement calls based on what you think the residents want and what you think is best.
The expertise is in the city staff, and we on the city council rely on them for their expert opinion. However, opinions, expert or not, are colored by biases - sometimes inherent in the expertise - so we can and often do go against staff recommendations.
For example, economists and many city planners all seem to think "growth is good". However, an individual, or a large number of individuals, may look at growth and decide it is better somewhere else. Non-economic things like traffic, or "character of a neighborhood" may be more important to them. So, let company XYZ expand in Columbus, Ohio instead of down the block.
The city exists for the residents, not for corporations. Corporations themselves exist for the people, not vice versa. City planning is more art than science.
And as for the economics of city life, "if you laid all the economists in the world end-to-end they still couldn't reach a conclusion." Everyone is different, and reaching a consensus may not always be possible.
One either builds a new city hall or one doesn't. How do you split the difference there? How many parks should we have? Is building a new city hall better than adding on to the existing one? One large central library or several branches? Brand new library or add on to the current one? There are no definitive answers and if you ask city staff - well it isn't their money - so sure, a nice new city hall or grandiose library would be nice to work in before they move on to the next city. And will add to their resume if their dept. is involved in the planning. The city council is there to represent the residents in the decision-making process.
Maybe residents *Do* want a new city hall. Do residents want more growth? Some do, some don't. Therefore the members should be elected by the people in a dialogue we call campaigning - derived from the word for "field" or "countryside" - as in go to the common people in the fields and ask what they think.
But people have to want to be on the city council and that is hard to find. I ask a lot of people who express dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs and they say they are just too busy with work and family. They may be really expressing a sense of futility with the current electoral process, where big money is required to run. Hopefully that will change with a move to district elections.
