The art of compromise is close to dead in Washington, D.C.

A popular narrative around the Frankfort Plant Board’s Tanglewood water tank controversy puts the blame for expensive and time-consuming litigation on the so-called “Roach commission” — a reference to the city commission’s 2018 vote to side with Tanglewood residents in the squabble.

Don’t look now, but the Frankfort Plant Board is finding its stride.

When Frankfort City Commissioner Katrisha Waldridge, during a debate over bicycle trails last month, publicly ridiculed Mayor Bill May as an alleged flip-flopper, observers were too stunned to realize what they’d just witnessed: the unofficial start of the 2020 mayoral race.

Turns out that there’s still some appetite for civil political discourse in an era of, well, incivility.