"The pen is mightier than the sword," wrote Edward Bulwer-Lytton. Indeed, when patterns of deception and malfeasance present themselves, it is our duty to take up pens and fill our quivers with pointed words. Nothing short of civic revolution demanding transparency and accountability can save our democracy.
People are beginning to understand that the inability to get a simple garbage contract right is only one symptom of a malfunctioning system. On Nov. 5, St. Paul voters will weigh in on Ordinance 18-39, creating new rules for collection and disposal of trash, without accurate information about what will happen after the vote. The information coming from City Hall is opaque when transparency is needed most.
City government should be accommodating the will of the people, not manipulating it. Even if voters reject it, Mayor Melvin Carter has promised to honor the flawed contract, and this time with a twist. He proclaimed that all property-tax payers, whether they receive residential trash service or not, will pay for it. A majority of the council accommodated the mayor by adding 17.4% to the maximum levy to cover trash.
As the mayor, council and city attorney know, the trash haulers already have refused repeated attempts to renegotiate this contract. To promise voters postelection contract negotiation breakthroughs is simply wrong.
Last year, 6,400 citizens signed a petition seeking to have a voice in the trash contract city leaders had negotiated that was contrary to common sense in every regard. Then, following the perennially bad advice of the city attorney, the City Council voted not to accept the petition. Citizens sued and what followed was an oft-repeated routine of recent years: The city lost in district court, appealed to the Minnesota Supreme Court, and lost again. The court ordered that the referendum be placed on the ballot in compliance with the St. Paul City Charter.
The mayor and council are making costly decisions based on faulty legal advice and seem incapable of admitting mistakes.
"If you don't like it, sue us," is an unacceptable attitude for City Hall. We are currently embroiled in a class-action lawsuit because our City Parks and Recreation Department did not follow our own earned sick- and safe-time ordinance.
The citizens paid the $800,000 settlement for the wrongful-termination-of-contract lawsuit at Black Bear Crossing and the total loss continues to rise as new tenants come and go from that location and leave with debts to the city unpaid.