Update: According to Newsday, the pro-council district proposal failed. The Town of Huntington will still vote for council members in an at-large system.
“The Green Party of Suffolk supports the proposition to bring council districts to Huntington town,” said its chair Roger Snyder, a Huntington resident. “A key value of the Green Party is Grassroots Democracy, and it is clear that at-large districts are the farthest from that ideal.”
On Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2009, voters in the Town of Huntington will be able to vote in favor of setting up council districts, or a ward system, to elect their town council members. “A system that offers better representation from all parts of a town, with smaller districts and an opportunity to be closer to one’s elected representative is a win for all a towns residents,” said Snyder. “Experience in other towns in Suffolk and Nassau counties has shown that a system of Council Districts works better for residents and their representatives.”
The current Huntington at-large electoral system diminishes the voting power of some residents, reducing representation of all of a town’s neighborhoods. Council districts make it easier for citizen candidates to participate by providing more reasonable sized districts. Currently the town council district, with over 200,000 residents, is three to four times the size of Suffolk County legislative districts.
“This change would be a good step towards insuring a representative government in Huntington,” Snyder continued, “and we urge a yes vote on Dec. 22, 2009.”
The Green Party is an alternative party to the Democrats and Republicans. The four pillars of the Green Party are: Nonviolence/Peace; Grassroots Democracy; Social and Economic Justice; and Ecological Wisdom. You can enroll in the Green Party by checking the box marked “Other” on the voter registration form and writing in the word “Green” on the line next to it.
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Filed under: 3rd party, Action Alert!, activism, election, Election 2009, elections, grassroots democracy, Green Party, long island, Long Island Politics, Press Release | Tagged: huntington | 3 Comments »
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I saw a report on one of the morning happy talk shows that said that inner city chilkdren were affected by the violence around them. That the continual exposure to violence affected the development of young brains. Taht the teens they talked to had trouble coping, learning and became disaffected to higher and hoghter levels of violence through coninual exposure.