I live in "Crazy City"

I wish I could make some of this stuff up. Really. To an outsider it probably seems 10x more ridiculous than it does to those of us who are suffering to live here. Which truly begs the question of why anybody stays here.

The mayor. Well, he isn't smoking crack and stalking women like Marion Barry of Washington DC. He isn't perjuring himself about using city supplied phones and computers to conduct an affair with a staffer, like whats-his-name from Detroit.

However, he is under constant FBI investigation for shady real estate deals, appoints unqualified staffers (former bodyguards, usually) to positions created for them to justify $100,000 salaries, many of whom become embroiled in scandal. The latest fun takes the cake. Within weeks of his unprecedented 5th term election, he announced he was resigning to take the then-vacant job of School Superintendent, a job he held until he resigned following a sex-for-promotion scandal. Problem was, he didn't want to interview, just have the job given to him. So, he withdrew his resignation. While I was in Australia, he resigned AGAIN, this time to run for a congressional seat. The person who was to replace him began assembling a team to run the city during the time between the resignation and the special election. Meanwhile, mayor's cronies lined up to resign and collect fat pensions. Then mayor decides he doesn't like the guy who will be interim mayor, and he doesn't like the number, or caliber, of people lining up to run in the special election. So he withdraws his resignation again - this time, informally, saying he will "retire" at the end of the month.

The man has an overblown ego, and a need to be in the spotlight. He also doesn't want to work for the betterment of the city, but would rather have a city that is predominately poor and black, those being the key demographics who will vote for him. He has told people who don't like how he runs the city to "leave," and many have.

Don't get me started on all the alleged changes to the City Schools format and curriculum for the new year, or the continued drama of who will be funding the schools and to what degree. It is all a big mystery.

Over the next few days/weeks, expect to see some new posts here with the prefix "Australia." I will expound on my experiences, differences in the US and Australia, and just cool stuff that I want to share.