>A good chunk of this is caused by our city repeatedly choosing awful vendors that bilk the city for crazy amounts of money, and provide trash as the final prod

>A good chunk of this is caused by our city repeatedly choosing awful vendors that bilk the city for crazy amounts of money, and provide trash as the final product. How much of this is voters voting for politicians who are good at what is essentially a popularity contest instead of politicians who are capable of signing decent contracts? As long as voters don't care enough to change their voting habits this will continue to happen.