Kristen Brown's failure to fulfill her campaign promise is revealing on several levels

Kristen Brown's failure to fulfill her campaign promise of repealing trash toter fees is revealing on several levels.

First, there's the obvious problem - Brown campaigned on doing away with fees associated with city services.  Today, she announced that yes, she technically favors free service, but only after you buy in to the tune of $30.  $30 doesn't really seem like much money, but remember that for Brown this was never an argument about numbers, it was about ideology.  You paid for these services through property taxes, Brown said, so there's no reason to pay again through fees of any kind.  So why the about face?

The answer to that question brings us to problem number two in the Brown administration trash tax dance - it turns out Kristen Brown likes taxes.  At least she likes them when their aimed at lower income families and she's doing the collecting.  In a story printed this morning, Brown's PR firm noted that the $30 could result in a net gain of $30,000 in revenue.  As Mayor Brown liked to point out when she was candidate Brown, that word means tax.  Apparently taxes aren't so bad when you're the one responsible for managing the budget.  Whether this causes Mayor Brown problems with her base will go a long way towards answering the question of whether they are themselves ideologically opposed to a trash tax, or if that was simply a cover for more simple partisanship.

Perhaps the more disturbing omen, however, is the clear demonstration of Mayor Brown's inability to influence a City Council filled with loose cannons.  If there was one single issue that had a indisputable mandate following the election, it was the repeal of trash fees.  Every single candidate for office ran on it, every single candidate pledged it.  The fact that even with 100% of the council in her Party's control Mayor Brown was unable to gain consensus on an item as clear cut as abolishing trash fees demonstrates a concerning amount of weakness on the part of the new administration which could be an ill omen for any sort of agenda that is forthcoming.

Worst of all however is this: Kristen Brown didn't know there was a $30 fee to begin with.  Again according to this morning's press release, "Mayor Kristen Brown has dropped her suggestion that residents be allowed to swap small garbage trash bins for larger ones at no charge after learning that a city ordinance already in effect calls for a $30 fee to be imposed for such a swap."  This means that in a candidacy that was entirely based around her reading of the city's budget, Kristen Brown either failed to read the actual budget, or simply didn't understand the revenue streams.

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