New City Gov. Structure, Pass or Fail?
Is it possible that the city’s new Executive Mayor – Legislative Council charter change is making it harder for our city government to function well? That certainly appeared to be the case in October, when Mayor Jacob Frey, the council majority, city attorney and other department leaders grappled with Frey’s veto of a new pollution control annual registration fee. Following the veto letter from the mayor, the council voted to override the veto, and the mayor threatened to instruct staff not to do the work to implement it. As we shift attention to the upcoming city elections, the timing seems right to look at how that new structure is working. It is worth recalling that three years ago, the so-called strong mayor charter amendment was narrowly passed with just 1.41 percent more than the required 51 percent of the votes. It was defeated in 8 of the 13 wards, but passed because of the large number of voters in wards 13, 11 and 7 where it won handily, esp...