Chaos envelops Mayor Mallory's City

As the City comes to the close of the era of Mayor Mark Mallory, chaos envelops the City.  And it is so because, as with other politicians of the early decades of the new millennium, the modus operandi is to defer every hard decision, delay cutting spending and reforming government, borrow every penny possible, and spend like there's no tomorrow.

Thus, as Mayor Mallory leaves office, and Roxanne Qualls, his loyal lieutenant, seeks to succeed him, the City is mired in quagmire after crises:

• The Streetcar boondoggle is already, admittedly, $25 million over budget, and has huge additional holes from the Duke Energy lawsuit and the Blue Ash Airport lawsuit.
• The City's general fund is another $25 million out of balance, with the only hope being the sale of the City's parking revenues for 30 years to venture capitalists from New York City.  Community leaders are rising up against this plan.
• The City's pension fund is some $700 million out of balance, and getting further in the hole each year as a result of under-funding.
• City residents and businesses continue to flee the City at the rate of nearly 10 residents per day, each and every day, year in and year out.

So, Mayor Mallory will leave public service, and will leave the City in a state of unprecedented dysfunction with a fat retirement package.  And those City residents who remain will be left to pick up the pieces.