In fat times and lean, the city's pols and powerbrokers chose to focus their energy and their resident's tax dollars on gigantic, big-ticket scams while ignoring the basics that let cities thrive -- or at least survive.
in fat times and lean: 在丰收年和贫瘠年
pol: n.
broker n. 经纪人，代理人
powerbroker: n. 权利代理人
gigantic: adj.巨大的
scam n.诈骗
thrive v.繁荣（do well and successful）
