We’re hearing some grumbles around Amarillo that the City Commission should put a cellphone ban ordinance to a popular vote, as was done twice some years ago with an indoor smoking ban.

The commission voted 4-1 recently to ban the use of handheld cellphones while driving motor vehicles. It’s been a tough road for the city, but I have concluded finally that commissioners made the right call.

The yammering for a referendum, though, is getting tiresome.

We elect these five individuals to make some difficult decisions on occasion. And they do it for virtually nothing; getting 10 bucks per meeting doesn’t exactly constitute a living wage for these folks. The cellphone ban is one of those tough calls. Let them make the decision.

Municipal governing bodies make these decisions all the time in communities across the state and nation. But yet we keep hearing from the vocal minority in Amarillo that the city “shoves laws down our throats.” What utter nonsense.

It’s not as though voters are powerless in the face of these City Hall mandates. Amarillo does have municipal elections every other year. All five commission members – including, of course, the mayor – have to stand for re-election if they decide to seek another two-year term. If you don’t like the decisions they make, vote them out and elect someone who’ll do your bidding. Isn’t that the essence of a representative democracy?

And if you or your candidate happens to lose fail to get enough votes to win, well, understand the time-honored political truism: Elections have consequences. I’ll just add “for good or ill.” The cellphone ban is a constructive step that commissioners needed to take.