Population and Housing

[ac3r]

I think our region/cities aren't big enough for people to care. When you live in a city with millions of people, the do tend to pay more attention to local politics and vote. But when you have a region of close to 700k and three cities with less than 300k, none of the local politics really feels like it impacts you on a day to day basis (even if it does...barely). The most important decision making continues to occur regardless of who gets elected, so many don't feel the need to change mayors and such when everything already works fine enough. Garbage gets picked up, the roads get cleared, taxes aren't offensive etc so people are comfortable.

I would suspect in addition, our weird local political makeup also makes things more confusing. We're 1 region, 3 cities and a bunch of townships. Yeah you only vote in a regional election then your city/township, but there are still so many layers. It may also be worsened by the fact the region is very transient. A good amount of the population is studying here (who don't vote, of course) or doesn't really plan to live here long term so they don't give a shit about any of it.

Maybe it's possible to attract more interest in it...but local politics has never been something most people have ever paid attention to either in 1925 or 2025. At least until you're a city as big as Tokyo, Toronto or Rio de Janeiro.