Facing enormous budget shortfalls created in part by the recession, mayors and governors are increasingly turning to the sale of public assets - often to the very Wall Street businesses that helped fuel the crash, writes Donald Cohen.
Donald Cohen of the Center on Policy Initiatives warns about a disturbing trend: the sale or lease of public assets to private enterprise. Informed by the findings in Janine Wedel's new book The Shadow Elite, Cohen shows how such deals undermine the ability of local government to control their own areas of decision-making, as well as eliminate the possibility of public consultation.
"Mayors and governors staring down massive budget gaps are putting bridges, buildings, parking lots, and more up for sale. Who's buying? Wall Street, which, in turn, wants to sell off your public assets to investors with the promise of sure-fire returns. [For example], Chicago's Mayor Daley rushed a 75-year lease of the City's 36,000 parking meters through City Council for $1.15 billion in much-needed budget cash.
[D]eals like the one in Chicago go well beyond simple government contracting. Private interests are increasingly eating up not just public assets or functions, but also the public power that comes with those assets, power to make policy in a way that good government demands: with transparency, accountability and with the interest of the public front and center. With each lease signed, pieces of official government disappear, as does your right as a taxpaying citizen to control what should be part of the public sphere, now and well into the future.
The privatization craze is happening all over the country, and the risk of vanishing public power spreads with it."
FULL STORY: Shadow Elite: If You Believe That, I've Got a Bridge to Sell You....
Pennsylvania Mall Conversion Bill Passes House
If passed, the bill would promote the adaptive reuse of defunct commercial buildings.
Planning for Accessibility: Proximity is More Important than Mobility
Accessibility-based planning minimizes the distance that people must travel to reach desired services and activities. Measured this way, increased density can provide more total benefits than increased speeds.
World's Largest Wildlife Overpass In the Works in Los Angeles County
Caltrans will soon close half of the 101 Freeway in order to continue construction of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing near Agoura Hills in Los Angeles County.
Eviction Looms for Low-Income Tenants as Rent Debt Rises
Nonprofit housing operators across the country face almost $10 billion in rent debt.
Brightline West Breaks Ground
The high-speed rail line will link Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area.
Colorado Bans No-Fault Evictions
In most cases, landlords must provide a just cause for evicting tenants.
City of Costa Mesa
Licking County
Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Tufts University, Department of Urban and Environmental Policy & Planning
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.