Detroit Wants Its Council Race To Be More Like Boston's?

Detroit has a 9-person city council, all elected at-large. There is a movement to turn 7 of those into district seats, similar to what Boston did a coupl'a decades back.

Detroit just held its primary election Tuesday, to narrow the council field to 18. There are three openings, because two of the nine incumbents are not seeking re-election, and a third resigned after pleading guilty to bribery.

So, there was a little interest in the race -- just as there is here, where two openings have given us a field of 15 candidates.

Well, not just like here. Here, we have 15 candidates heading into the preliminary. In Detroit, they had 167.

That's right, 167 candidates.

And I thought moderating a debate here was a challenge!

97,000 people voted -- here are the full results if you want 'em.

So, Detroit may not have a perfect system. On the other hand, their current eight councilors include six women. And the top vote-getter in the primary is a gay black man.

No offense to my fine white male friends on the council, but Boston's current balance of at-large and district seats hasn't delivered quite the same level of diversity.