Lonzie Cox, Jr. – 2/20/05

This page was last updated on February 20, 2005.

At-large elections flawed; Lonzie Cox, Jr.; Beaver County Times; February 20, 2005. I am not related to Mr. Cox.

Three racism related letters within a couple of weeks. It appears to be “all race, all the time.”

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“The severe flooding during the heavy rains of the 2004 hurricane season reminded us of what kind of damage water can do in certain neighborhoods.

“The Times carried articles about people on Beaver Falls’ Mount Washington who had been complaining about flooded yards and basements for years.

“A similar situation exists in the condition of some streets in Beaver Falls. Fourteenth Street, between Eighth Avenue and 10th Avenue is in horrible condition, with gigantic potholes that damage cars front ends. The same goes for 10th Street at 10th Avenue.

“Year after year, we are told to wait until next year to get on the repair list.

“Maybe if we had a councilman for each district, all areas would see improvements in timely fashion.”

[RWC] I’m with Mr. Cox up through this sentence, but then he goes off the tracks when he drags in race.

“At present, Beaver Falls elects council members in what is called the ‘at large system’. In an at-large system, all the voters in a city elect council members. It has been proven that over time, at-large voter systems dilute or even negate minority voting strength, making it more difficult for blacks to get elected to office.”

[RWC] What is Mr. Cox’s goal? Does he want to get the roads fixed or does he want to get more blacks elected?

“The city of Pittsburgh switched from at-large to district elections after 1985. Before that time, the black population of the city was at 25 percent but with almost no black candidate standing a chance of being elected to council at large.

“Since the 1980s, blacks have been represented from black majority districts on a consistent basis.”

[RWC] Mr. Cox didn’t tell us who represented blacks from “black majority districts.” Were the representatives black or white?

On a side note, what did that do to help Pittsburgh? Is Pittsburgh better off? I agree with electing council members by precinct, but not as a means to get a desired ethnic composition. A representative is no better or worse simply because he is black or white. As long as too many of us continue to believe there are “black” needs, “white” needs, et cetera, we’re screwed.

“Voting by district or precinct is a much fairer way to elect council, and it insures that each precinct is considered when improvements are made. Otherwise, bad areas keep getting worse.”

[RWC] Mr. Cox isn’t thinking big enough. Here’s what Beaver Falls needs to do. Beaver Falls needs to assign both physical and virtual precincts. The physical precincts would represent geographical areas and the virtual precincts would represent various ethnic, race, and religious groups. Over time, other virtual precincts could be added to cover other protected groups, like seniors, the “poor,” et cetera. Every precinct would get a seat on council.