This proposal would have the citizens of the city as public.
Explanation:
As seen in the question above, you will write an essay taking a position on a certain topic and submit the essay to the editorial board of the local newspaper, so that a possible publication of your essay in the newspaper is discussed.
The local newspaper is one that is distributed in your city, among the citizens because it brings important news to the people of that territory. In that case, we can consider that the public that will read your text are the citizens of the city.
