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A council majority of six new members arrived since 2020, with three rookies seated in December. It’s too soon to measure the council’s independence and ability to isolate Steinberg and steer the city around his inadequacies. Early days are not encouraging.

Mai Vang, who represents part of Meadowview and Delta Shores, launched the new council into a dismal orbit when she publicly gathered five women members and said, “Mayor, all the progressive things you’ve wanted to do, this is your council, right here.”

With that surrender, Vang insultingly characterized her colleagues as Darrell’s hippie handmaidens.

By law, the new council must let Steinberg run meetings, even when he’s unable to control the audience. But councilmembers aren’t the mayor’s toys. They don’t need him. He’s just one vote.

His presence as a forgotten state Senate leader can still intimidate political novices. But none of today’s councilmembers won by promising to let Steinberg do “all the progressive things” he wanted to do, whatever that means.

Steinberg’s grand failure doesn’t involve leadership, progressive or otherwise. The mayor’s failure is his dependence on empty gestures. He’s a salesman, not a leader.

Hollow performances with no accountability or consequence powered his political career for three decades. He dances on air and leaves no footprints. For tangible solutions in economic development, public safety and homelessness, councilmembers must leave this mayor behind. Here’s a slogan for them: Think Big.

Correction: Last month’s City Beat column said the old Shanley’s bar on Broadway was now a pot shop. Not true, the pot shop is a block from Jamie’s, which replaced Shanley’s 37 years ago. I should know better than to mess up alcohol and pot.

R.E. Graswich can be reached at regraswich@icloud.com. Previous columns can be found and shared at InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @insidesacramento. n