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The Council

The Carcosa City Council' is the legislative body of the City of Carcosa. It has 14 members from 14 council districts throughout the metropolis. The Council serves as a check against the mayor in a "strong" mayor-council government model. The council monitors performance of city agencies and makes land use decisions as well as legislating on a variety of other issues. The City Council also has sole responsibility for approving the city budget. There are no term limits on local office in Carcosa and most Aldermen--the title Carcosa's Council Members take--have held their seats for several consecutive terms. The political machine in Carcosa is potent and incumbents only ever lose their seats by dying, retiring, or running afoul of it.

The head of the City Council is called the Speaker, and is currently Ken Weizhi, a Democrat. The Speaker sets the agenda and presides at meetings of the City Council. Proposed legislation is submitted through the Speaker's Office. There are 10 Democratic council members led by Majority Leader Clay Greely. The three Republican council members are led by Minority Leader Alfons D'Abruzzo. There is also one member of the Carcosa Reform Party, a collection of pro-business interests which tends to align with the Republicans.

The Council has 35 committees with oversight of various functions of the city government. Each council member sits on at least three standing, select or subcommittees. The standing committees meet at least once per month. The Speaker of the Council, the Majority Leader, and the Minority Leader are all ex officio members of every committee.

Aldermen are elected every two years to four year terms. Odd numbered districts elect Alderman in 2008, 2012, 2016 etc.. and even numbered districts in 2010, 2014, 2018...

The First District

Alderwoman Yvonne Perkins, Democrat

Carcosa's First Council district is (naturally) its oldest and sits in the far north of the city. Covering Old Town and parts of Renhold Row and Running Creek, the first doesn't have a whole lot to offer. Crime is high and the streets are dirty, and Yvonne Perkins hasn't so much as set foot in the First in at least two full terms. Still, she's popular with the Democratic Machine and an excellent fund-raiser, so every four years its her name that comes up with the most votes in the First.

The Second District

Alderwoman Gracey Shaw, Democrat

Geographically, this is Carcosa's smallest and most compact district. The somewhat pear-shaped chunk of Oceanfront is also one of the city's most populous districts however and probably one of the nicer ones to spend time in. Gracey is a relatively capable Alderwoman with a genuine desire to legislate on behalf of her constituents. That's not to say she can't, won't, or doesn't play the same ruthless games as any other city politician. She just takes one out of every three dollars instead of two.

The Third District

Alderwoman Henrietta Jackson, Democrat

The first of Carcosa's many gerrymandered districts, the third takes sizable chunks of its voters from Oceanfront and Pappelbon Row, bleeds over into Ecclesia where it saps a good number of republican votes away from the 10th and 12th, and into Running Creek to help keep the 1st solidly Democratic. Henrietta is popular with the ministers and along with Speaker Clay Greely is largely responsible for providing the Democratic Party with most of its foot soldiers in the north side of Carcosa during elections.

The Fourth District

Alderman Clay Greely, Democrat

The Fifth District is a lot like the Fourth in that it is purposefully drawn to rely on Oceanfront's overwhelming population to effectively undermine the representation of more conservative areas in Southside. This district is far flung, covering parts of the relatively middle class Stroker Hive, running across Boomerang Way to the Coast, disappearing a while, and then picking back up in Oceanfront. Clay Greely though, is a five term incumbent who is wildly popular in every part of his district. The Ministers in Oceanfront and Pappelbon Row love him and tout his virtue from the pulpits ever November. The dockworkers union in Boomerang Way has a good working relationship with him and even Middle Class Stroker Hive is more comfortable with consistent, reliable Clay Greely than any Republican challenger.

The Fifth District

Alderman Gary Grays, Democrat

Gary is a rare new face on the Council, having recently ousted Republican Victor Ventacinque thanks to recent redistricting. Gary's not yet secure enough in his position to become the laid back, machine politician type that makes up most of the Council. His district straddles Carcosa's north-south divide, and he finds himself serving voters in Pappelbon and Oceanfront, his "base", just a little bit better than he serves the Whites and Hispanics down in Hanover Wards. Because the Atlantic Ocean is a permissible avenue for making a district contiguous, this configuration leaves much of the Hanover Wards effectively without representation in the City's government, and much of the resentment over this is directed Alderman Grays way.

The Sixth District

Alderman Horace Watkins, Democrat

The final in a trio of districts drawn to keep Southside from having meaningful representation, Alderman Watkins district covers a sizable chunk of the crowded Pappelbon Row and runs down a relatively narrow corridor through Hanover Wards to swallow up most of the Butcher's Block. Until recently he's been "just another Northside politician" but the utter embarrassment that is the Butcher's Block is beginning to require some of his attention. The tiny, sparsely populated neighborhood outshines even the rest of the Chalk Row when it comes to murder rates and while it's not any real danger to his reelection, it's beginning to make his agenda a little harder to push through.

The Seventh District

Alderman Allen Cunningham, Republican

From the affluent neighborhoods in Western Ecclesia down through Preston and the mostly abandoned Industrial Circle, and through a broad swath of Westview, Allen Cunningham's face is everywhere. On mailboxes, telephone poles, on advertising trucks, on billboards, everywhere. Allen is independently wealthy and financed his own campaign three election cycles ago to unseat a machine backed Democrat. It cost him several million dollars but he's not shy about the fact that he's made quite a bit more than that in his time on the council. And three elections worth of massive spending and advertising have left posters and photos of him in various states of decay and being vandalized all over his slice of the city.

The Eighth District

Speaker Ken Weizhi, Democrat

After the mayor, Ken Weizhi is the most influential member of the Carcosa Democratic Party. His district includes most of Chinatown and just enough of Stroker Hive and Westview to make sure that when Clay Greely eventually retires, the fifth stays solidly Democratic. He is the mastermind behind the current districting plan which moved the Democrats from an 8-5-1 majority to its more comfortable 10-3-1. He's also one of the only Democrats who can consistently bring in large swaths of the vital Chinese vote year after year. Ken's district 'is a relatively well off one leaving him with few if any political vulnerabilities, and he's got the Mayor's ear. Some people say he's going to run for Mayor himself in the next decade and that when he does, he'll handily become Carcosa's first Chinese mayor, Southside be dammed.

The Ninth District

Alderman Kuma Tsehaye, Democrat

Alderman Tsehaye, like Alderman Grays, is on the fortunate end of Carcosa's most recent redistricting. With the growing population in Little Ethiopia behind him he was able to unseat James "Fitzy" Fitzmurphy from his council seat. Tsehaye's district still includes a sizable chunk of Cabbagetown of course and his constituents there despise him. James Fitzmurphy never even closed his office down in the Ninth and swears he'll unseat the "Uppity liberal who is misrepresenting the fine people of this district" in the next election. But that's years away, and for now at least, Kuma Tsehaye is well liked by the Democratic Machine.

The Tenth District

Alderman Liu Mingyi, Republican

Liu Mingyi is arguably the target of more hate and rage from the local Republican Party than any other man in Carcosa. He was the only Republican who voted for the redistricting plan that cost his party two seats on the Council--and why wouldn't he have? It added a significant number of votes to his rather precarious district which sits stretched across Ecclesia, the Vale Way, and Martin Causeway. Having his likely margins bump from 52% to nearly 60% was well worth selling out his own party, right? And besides, he had no choice. Ken Weizhi is his cousin, on his mother's side

The Eleventh District

Alderman Alfons D'Abruzzo, Republican

Old Alfons has been the councilman for Little Italy for about as long as anyone can remember. He's run for mayor three or four times but never really stood a chance with that "R" next to his name. Now with the redistricting, he's responsible for a large chunk of Cabbagetown too, and he welcomes the Irish votes. His is one of the more compact districts, mostly meant to contain the Republicans to as few seats as possible. He prides himself on his working class, blue collar image--and no matter how fat his pockets have grown in his decades long career it seems to stick to him like glue.

The Twelfth District

Alderman Kevin Hillford, Democrat

Kevin used to just be the Alderman for Vale Way but now his district includes bits of little Italy and, to keep his seat a safe-Democratic seat, a one-block-wide corridor through Riverside Row into Fairview. He was the only Democrat to initially oppose redistricting and, until Liu Mingyi came around it looked like his "nay" vote would actually kill the redistricting bill entirely. He's on the outs with the local Democratic Machine and in a fragile place politically, and certainly counting his blessings that his seat wasn't up for reelection last year, but 2010 is looming awfully close.

The Thirteenth District

Alderwoman Donna Childress, Carcosa Reformist

The sole member of the Carcosa Reform Party on the Council, Alderwoman Childress represents the entirety of Hawthorn Island. She almost certainly would have been redistricted out of her seat if half of Hawthorn Island hadn't thrown fits over the idea of being lumped in with mainlanders in the same district. She's well connected and wealthy and effuses the image of wealth and aristocracy that Rat Island is known for. Her party is ardently pro-business and anti-regulation and she pushes an anti-tax agenda with great ferocity, making her popular among Republicans and the bane of the Democratic Machine.

The Fourteenth District

Alderwoman Maria Morreno

Representing Appledale and bits of Pappelbon Row and Running Creek via some creatively drawn lines, Maria is the council's lone Hispanic. She does not often miss an opportunity to point this out, or to play up her Spanish language skills or heritage--when she's in Appledale. But when she's in Running Creek, you'd have to look twice just to make sure she wasn't one of the good ol' boys. Few people are more comfortable with the politics of race than Maria Morreno and she can slip from a thick, guttural Dominican accent in Appledale to harsh, slang filled English in Pappelbon, to a twangy southern accent in Running Creek. Everywhere Maria goes, she's a local. Didn't you know she grew up right around here?

((This article heavily cribbed from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Council ))