The England Restoration

Although it was far from completely unexpected, the announcement in today's rags that Mr. Carl Malysz will assume the post of deputy mayor provoked immediate and pointed commentary in the community, if the calls, visits, and e-mails that followed have any weight.

Malysz, in absentia since the Overton administration, was able to see his reputation acquire a gloss in the intervening years. To this observer it almost seemed that every mention of the man was preceded with an emphatic, but silent, "the legendary..." As in, "the legendary Carl Malysz."

A few months ago, one wag was heard to ask, "If Carl Malysz was such a miracle worker, how did the city get into this mess?" If not a fair question, it is a good one.

All I can say is that the council had better be ready to hit the ground running because it certainly appears that Mayor England and his cohort are ready to govern. And after 8 years in the wilderness, they're going to be loaded for bear.

By the time the kiddies get out of school, we should have a fairly good measure of the new administration and the dramatically revised council. Initiatives that have been floated by England's operatives may or may not have a reality behind them. I'd be willing to go out on a limb and say that some of those initiatives were a form of disinformation designed to ferret out friends and foes.

But with today's announcement of the recreation of the post of deputy mayor with broad oversight of key city functions, the foes are certainly going to be easy to identify.

Next up: The key appointment most likely to feel the heat.