Yogi Berra might say it's "deja vu all over again" when it comes to the city of Auburn management team's new trash plan.

Sure, it is not the exact same plan they came up with last year that would utilize special trash bags; this time it is with city-purchased containers that limit what is put out.

But, in essence, they are coming up with the same formula that is likely to be defeated again, as long as the public rebels.

There is no doubt the city does need to change the way it takes care of residential trash - the system, as currently configured and enforced, can't sustain itself financially. Most have known this for more than a decade.

From time to time, city managers start to delve into the highly reactive process of implementing change and it becomes a political hot potato that no one wants to get near.

For example, one of the factoids used in unveiling the current plan is the size of piles left out and how they are not self-contained.

This isn't a new problem.

In fact, a decade ago, the city put in place steps to limit what is left out and how it is left at the curb.

Construction debris, which can puncture not only the staff who has to load it into haulers but also the membrane lining of the landfill, was limited because it would cause massive problems.

That made sense, until a politically connected landlord called a member of city council and whined up a storm. Within a short time, even though everyone knew that the rule needed to be enforced, the right to dump such materials was treated as if it was God-given, with all the hallmarks of something stamped by Thomas Jefferson and the Founding Fathers.

The end result was that some staff became skittish about enforcing the rules and instead of keeping to the letter of the law, they figured it wasn't worth the harangues and phone calls from members of city council. Wrong, yes; understandable, definitely.

While there are rules on the books that can curtail some of the current collection problems, they take not only a management team willing to bear the pressure of council complaints, but the will of a council to allow city management to enforce the rules, no matter what the political price.

Neither is likely.

As one former member of council used to quip, "the juice isn't worth the squeeze."

That then brings us back to the current plan - a giant step, but not a logical, linear one. The unanswered questions are legion. They range from what happens to trash not put in the city purchased containers to the cost of said containers to whether going to a new system would reduce property taxes?

Yet, in the end, it may not matter if such questions are asked and answered, because opposition may bury the plan from the start.

Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn. He can be e-mailed at cozguytho@aol.com