You rotten people, you, who don't think local politics matters.

In the situations which are most likely to directly affect your own life, local politics matters the most of any level of government. This is laudable, practical, and—judging by civic election turnout rates—largely overlooked.

The most interesting (and empirically effective) thinking about livability and crime prevention of the last few decades all focuses on civic-level structures: policing, traffic management, zoning, and architecture. We all follow provincial and federal government moves closely, but neither body has the power to change neighbourhoods (and thus the stuff you're likely to really care about) in the same way mayors and councillors can.

Come on! You can't tell me your candidates for mayor and council are so uniformly good that there's no need for you to vote.

For my part, I'm going to do a little studying to figure out which of the city council candidates deserve my vote. It's worth the trouble.