Tomorrow the Lib Dem/Conservative coalition which has run City of York Council since 2015 faces a day of drama. Different tribes will be scurrying round the city. Some will wear blue badges, others red, yellow or green. One thing unites them: all are seeking your endorsement.

Certainly the tasks confronting the 47 newly-elected councillors will be formidable. No city is a bubble and that is true of York. Issues affecting the country and world at large inevitably have a local impact.

Personally, I find it hard to create a rank order for the challenges we face: economic, environmental, political. It seems they are all interconnected.

Take housing, a huge problem in our city. Runaway house prices and rents have made leaving home an unaffordable luxury for many of our younger citizens – a double whammy for those seeking to start families of their own. It is not just the young who are affected. The reason buying and renting is such a strain for so many working people in York is that real wages have plummeted. Thus, the housing crisis cannot be separated from the general economy. Low pay in the service sector, the growth of zero hour contracts, people working multiple jobs to get by and still ending up with high personal debt, these are all questions local politicians need to urgently address.

Likewise, only the most stubborn oddballs and ill-informed among us now argue climate change is not an existential threat to humanity. We know part of the solution must involve our collective approach to housing. Radically improved insulation and energy-efficient homes, solar panels, all could help stave off eco-disaster. Only through local planning and policies will such changes occur on the ground. The free market is not to be trusted for so essential a task. We should expect our new cohort of councillors to formulate dramatic, planned, time-tabled solutions in line with their recent vote to declare a ‘climate emergency’ in York.

To take the housing example further, even if we build more homes in the city – as all parties support – what kind of homes will they be? Who are they for? Where will they be constructed and will they come with schools, pubs, community facilities? How will we ensure they are truly affordable? How will the greenbelt and natural world be spared? For too long house building has been geared around making big profits for developers rather than establishing viable communities.

Sadly, the national context for these local elections could hardly be more inauspicious for encouraging rational debate. Emotion at the expense of reason is running high in our politics. Whether you voted for Leave or Remain, there is almost universal scorn for the way the government has handled Brexit. So much so, many citizens of York feel inclined not to bother voting at all.

I would urge against that temptation. The moment we surrender democracy to disgust, the only beneficiaries are unelected business interests, shadowy tax-evading millionaires and corporations, plus their hired, stooge-like politicians – historically from all parties. Yes, the handling of Brexit has been a shameful episode for the current government. That cannot justify not voting in local elections for candidates committed to making York a better place.

Tomorrow will help steer our city’s destiny. For the more disenchanted among us, it will merely herald another round of business as usual. Fudge and hot air. Self-selecting people who are more gifted with ambition than ability. But politics does not have to be this way. We forget our collective ideals and faith that another world is possible at our peril. If you don’t vote, don’t complain.

Whoever wins tomorrow, it will be up to the politicians to prove the cynics wrong. We the citizens deserve concrete, tangible actions to improve our lives. That will be the true test of the poll. Power must never become an end in itself.

As long as democracy endures, we the people represent the ultimate power in this city. Not voting betrays your children, neighbours, workmates, fellow parents at the school gate, homeless people on the street crying out for help. Vote early. Vote wisely.