City Councilman Wilson Goode Jr. says he will introduce a bill this fall to cut the number council seats from 17 to 15.  Goode wants to end the longstanding practice that set asides two seats for the minority party, which in Philadelphia means Republican. Goode would keep the 10 district council seats, but reduce  the number of at-large seats from seven to five. The reasons it would hurt republicans is that under current rules no political party can nominate more than five candidates for the city wide seats. That means Dems are always capped at five guaranteeing the local Republican Party of snatching up the remaining two. Currently Republicans hold three of the city’s 17 seats. So this brings up the question if Philadelphia would be better off with fewer republicans. Does having a minority party represented in local government creates a healthier debate on issues? If Republicans dominated Philadelphia, would you want at least two Democrats on council?

Next City Council meeting: Thursday, September 18th