Wards Aren’t Neighborhoods

Folks, we have a challenge on our hands in Saratoga Springs with an arrogant group working to change our form of government and divide our city into six political wards which will severely alter the way you are governed and allowed to vote.

Wards would divide our city arbitrarily based only on geography. Most wards would include both densely populated areas and homes many miles away on large lawns. Our wards would not be neighborhoods. 

As former Saratogian editor Barbara Lombardo wrote in her recent blog: “The claim that residents would gain better representation with wards is false and grossly misleading.”

You will only be allowed to vote for your ward politician and a mayoral candidate, leaving 5 of the 7 City Council members which you can neither vote for (or against) or even influence. You will be effectively disenfranchised in this proposed undemocratic ward system.

You have a much stronger voice with our current Commission government. 

Communicating directly with Commissioners who can solve my problem is much more effective than talking with a ward politician who the charter says could not work with any city employee other than the City Manager…a guaranteed bottleneck.

Wards were snuck into the 2020 proposal without any public input by an unknown group of people who felt that they were so important that they could ignore the 2017 Charter Committee decision after a public discussion not to include wards.

Divisive wards, disenfranchised voters, and secret decisions are just 3 reasons to vote no and stop this bad City Manager-Ward System.

– Bonnie Sellers, Member of the SUCCESS Board, a Saratoga Springs citizen’s organization of residents from all political parties which was formed to protect the Commission Form of Government.