Mayor Axes Thirteen District Councils

OK, no blood was shed, but I’ve been waiting about 50 years to use this verb. It was in the 60’s when the-then Pope demoted something like 27 saints to non-saintly status. Our local paper, the San Jose Mercury News, blazoned the news in a huge headline: Pope Axes 27 Saints! One had visions of his immaculate papal robes drenched in blood. I was an impressionable journalism student at the time and that type of headline had not been covered yet in class.

Even though the Mayor’s act was not a violent scene, it was shocking nonetheless. The Mayor claimed the District Councils, in existence since 1987, are made up of rich, white homeowners protecting their turf and did not reflect the true demographics of the city. This was particularly unsettling as the Central Area Neighborhood District Council does have diversity in its representation. Several Central Area groups represented at the Council are African-American in membership. The current chair of the CANDC is Hispanic and is a renter, not a homeowner.