Maybe it makes sense to go to district elections for City Council. Since they're elected at large, they have no specific constituency, and they can ignore parts of the city so long as enough other parts are happy to keep electing them.

If each council member was tied to a geographic district, then that council member would have to listen to the people that lived there. That would help the neighborhoods, diffuse the power of downtown and special interests like the UW, and give people enough of a fighting chance to keep every part of the city represented.