Houston’s Bathroom Ordinance

The cities in Texas have a differing composition of racial percentage to their population. The city that best reflects the ethnic structure of the city council to its population is the city of San Antonio. The population of San Antonio represented in the city council is proportional to its population. For instance, the population of the Latino in the city council is sixty percent which is reasonably proportional to its population of sixty-three percent. Additionally, the city population of African Americans accounts for almost seven percent which reasonably matches the city council ten percent. On the other hand, Dallas represents the city in Texas where there is a divergence of the city council from the city’s population. The majority of the percentages of the city population are not matching the percentages of those elected to the city council. For instance, the percentage of the Latinos in the entire city population accounts for forty-two percent while in the elected city council there percentage is a mere fourteen percent.  Hence, comparison of the city population and city council elected population does not bring a real value of fair representation. It is vital that city councils reflect the racial/ethnic composition of their communities. For a fair representation of the population of the city, it is essential that the people are elected equally. This will increase the chances of representing the peoples’ issues to the council. Otherwise, an unfair representation can result in a misrepresentation of the peoples’ issues. When a population is fairly represented at the city council, it is likely that it will be able to gain a lot in the process of implementation of the city policies. Moreover, when the city council official represents the city’s population, equal distribution of resources is likely compared to lack of the mismatch between the city population and city council officials (Champagne et al. 343).

The many special districts in Texas are as a result of the constant amendment of its constitution if the legislature needs to pass an agenda without involving political agendas. Although the US Constitution is rarely amended due to its complex structure, the Constitution of Texas is rather easily modified through public voting. Thus if the legislature wants to enact a special district, they easily do so by changing the constitution which has resulted in the many special districts. Since the special districts primary perform single or a limited number of functions, these functions that the special districts are designed to be performed may not be done well by the local governments (Champagne et al. 346).

Close monitoring of the functions of the special districts is necessary to ensure that they perform their duties with high commitment as well as with transparency. These will ensure that the special districts in place are up to the task with their roles they were mandated to perform hence resulting in the better provision of duties (Champagne et al. 349). The person who should be responsible for the special districts oversight should be the city manager. The city manager should be the one in-charge of the special districts as the position is elevated through nonpartisan ways; therefore, this will serve the best interests of the city population. Limiting the powers of the special districts to minimal concerns can result in increased uniformity of legislative roles. Additionally, the state control to invalidate local ordinances can bear positive consequences in the quest for consistent regulations state-wise (Ura entire). Since the state government will have the authority to nullify the local ordinances, it can achieve less controversy about the laws made in various cities (Berman entire).