Schools For Sewers Headed To Ballot

As reported by the ABJ Mayor Don has elected to put his sewer lease plan on the ballot this fall and let residents decide if it will float or not. The move will apparently preempt the grassroots group, Save Our Sewers, from placing their own measure on the ballot and give the City deference in deciding the ballot language. Who would have though there are people with an affintiy for sewers? Plusquellic's quotes in the ABJ story highlight his building mayoral indigence with the SOS people:

Plusquellic said he decided to ''call their [SOS's] bluff'' and ask City Council to put the issue on the November ballot before the group resubmitted its petitions.

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Plusquellic called SOS a group of ''naysayers'' with ''no principles or morals'' that wants to make the city look bad.

The second statement sounds like a case of the final term blahs. These guys sometimes get more salty as their tenure begins to wind down. Each criticism of a proposal such as this elicits a nasty response and is perceived as a threat to their mayoral legacy. I remember seeing this type of reaction from Mike White during his last term as mayor of Cleveland. Although he tended to fire people when he was in a bad mood.

In the end let this thing go to vote. The SOS folks have a good point but I'm not sure it will resonate with voters. If the scholarship aspect is made to be the key element of the initiative and residents can be assured rates can be capped then this plan may get approved. The education facet of the plan is great but there is another side to this transaction.

If the opponents are sharp enough they will focus on the pitfalls of privatizing a City service and future impact on other services. Not to mention the chances it will be a foreign entity that assumes the operation. Would the water system be next? The questionable outcome of creating $200 million from a lease and then not expecting rates to increase should also be front and center. An investor may be willing to front $200 million to operate the system but only if they can get that investment and a sizable return back over time. Unless commonly known economic precepts have been altered that means sewer rate increases and cutting operating and capital expenses would be in order. Would maintenance be deferred as means of accelerating the return on investment? Do you want poorly maintained sewers running underneath your street? All good things to ponder during your next trip to the bathroom.

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