Alright so go already

Andy's finally gone.

But this was the top story in the province last night complete with Cochrane and a live remote?

Or the front page of the province's major daily, complete with colour photos of the colourful soon-to-be former mayor?

In departing, Wells couldn't resist his trademark personal attacks on anyone and everyone he doesn't like.  They were nitwits, dimwits and nutbars.

And Wells asked rhetorically if the city was worse off for his term of office, citing the stadium development and mail-in balloting as two of his legacies.

Well, mail-in balloting isn't something Wells should crow about.  The system contains major flaws in both its design and execution that leave it ripe for vote fraud. If nothing else, it is a system which favours incumbents and there is no surprise that in the 2005 municipal general election, very few new faces turned up in the council chamber.

One of those old faces - deputy mayor Dennis O'Keefe - appears to be the leading contender to replace Wells. That hardly bodes well for a municipal government that is in desperate need of a major change.  O'Keefe's pet projects are two things that are, at best, sidelines for a municipality:  gas prices and cruise ships.

Meanwhile, the city's core lines of business, namely municipal services and infrastructure, haven't garnered the sort of attention they deserve.  O'Keefe only lately started to talk about snow clearing.

And that's pretty much in keeping with the Wells legacy. faced with obvious problems in municipal infrastructure during the last election, Wells' approach was to attack one candidate personally, calling him a nitwit, and to dismiss public concern about water lines in the downtown that created a lake at one end of Duckworth Street and an improvised fountain in the middle of the other end of one of the oldest streets in the Oldest City.

Let's not even discuss the stadium controversy and the Mile One centre.  The former dragged on incessantly and the latter has proven to be a giant sinkhole into which the city drops at least $2.0 million annually just to keep it afloat.

Ultimately though, the change council needs is to get rid of the crass personal attacks and the petty personal issues that have tended to crop up with annoying frequency in the chambers. O'Keefe kept the legacy alive a couple of weeks ago, demanding an apology for nothing and wasting time in a public meeting for an issue that wasn't an issue at all.

And ultimately, that is Wells' legacy in the lack of civility in the conduct of city business.

The city is better off seeing the back of Andy Wells.  If the Premier wants him to run the public utilities board then fine.

Taking Andy out as mayor might well be Danny Williams' greatest service to the citizens of St. John's.  He couldn't do it in a municipal election a decade ago, but if he's used his cabinet to achieve the same end, then good on him.

See ya later, Andy.

-srbp-

Addendum:

Just for the heck of it, here's a reprint of a post from the 2005 municipal election that turned out to be very popular.

How the Boor stole the election

Every Jawn
down in Jawn-ville
Loved their city alot...

But the Boor
who was mayor of Sin Jawn-ville
did not!

The Boor hated Jawn-ville! The whole of the city.
He detested each Jawn, loathed each Jawn-dog and -kitty.
As he sat in his office, he'd think day and night
of another sly scheme to shag Sin Jawns just right.

And when Jawns looked to vote in the mail-in election,
the Boor figured out how to screw Jawn selection.
"I'll just send out the ballots to Jawns who are dead.
And send more to addresses of Jawns who have fled.

"I'll make sure there is no one to check who has voted."
Then he grinned a Boor grin. "I'll call out the devoted."
While the Boor knew that some of the Jawns thought him crass,
there were others who worshipped His Worship's Boor-ass.

He could count on those Jawns to do just as he wanted.
They would cheer. They would heckle.

They'd vote Boor, undaunted.

The Boor sat contented on his mayoral throne,
surveying Jawn councillors he'd soon see gone.

There could not be a chance that the Jawn-ville election
would deny the Blahblahs their new concrete erection.
And those Jawn-agitators who'd clog voting pipes
with some anti-Boor Jawn-viller councillor types?

Those Jawns would need gagging. They'd need a distraction.
The city's procedures would give such compaction.
So the Boor urged that Jawns-bunch to file an appeal.

He smiled knowing Jawn-ville town rules would congeal
and his friendly White Board would keep every Jawn busy,
as they'd file and they'd write in a paperwork tizzy.

By the time that the board that was whiter than White
decided Jawn-queries were beyond its might,
all the votes would be cast and the Jawns would be knackered.
and the Blahblah store floor would be duly shellackered.

Then the Boor called some Boor-loving Jawns on the phone.
Told them they could set just the right Jawn-council tone.
If they'd tackle his foes then the Boor would print ads
to tell all the Jawns their incumbents were bad.

And the Boor grin grew wider, then wider than wide.
As he walked from his office, he beamed with Boor-pride.
He drove through the streets in his SUV truck,
smiling at every Jawn, as he mouthed the word: "Schmuck".