Regarding Scott, SCAN election committee member Fred Geiger says his group has developed a list of four potential candidates, and although he would not reveal the names, he did confirm that Scott's name is not on it. Scott could not be reached for comment on her intentions regarding the November City Council election. Shanks says that in its search for candidates SCAN has not considered where candidates live in the event district elections pass. No one has sat down and done that. But the search for candidates highlights another issue that one side sees as a flaw and the other sees as a plus.
Supporters see that as a plus, since it encourages greater citizen involvement in government.
At the same time, this raises the issue of just who represents whom and whether district representation is fundamentally in the best interests of democracy. Opponents argue that neighborhoods and their issues would actually suffer from district representation. With only one representative to make your case, you're out of luck if your councilmember doesn't side with you. Districts tend to create fiefdoms, and it can be difficult to approach a councilmember who doesn't need your vote to carry water for you if your councilmember won't. With citywide elections, voters can usually find one of the seven councilmembers to help.