NASA's cloudy future
The Obama administration's plan to privatize manned space flight has
won plaudits from conservatives like Newt Gingrich, who called it "a
brave reboot,'' while angering others, like former Republican Majority
Leader Tom DeLay, a longtime NASA champion whose district included the
Johnson Space Center. Democrats affected by the cuts have raised an
outcry -- Florida Senator Ben Nelson called it "dead wrong'' -- while
others have cheered the proposal to refocus the agency on climate
change issues.
The Atlantic (blog)
FL: Idea to privatize building inspectors cools
The biggest department Jacksonville considered outsourcing will stay
in city government - for now, The city is holding off on plans to
privatize building inspections after bids from five private companies
came in more expensive than what the city is paying now...About 87
employees could have been replaced if the city chose to privatize the
service..Now, a group of businesses and regulators will meet to look at
how the city can save money and run the department more efficiently,
said Kerri Stewart, the city's chief administrative officer. A similar
group met several years ago and was instrumental in the city hiring
more employees in the department and giving people the option of using
private inspectors in a time crunch...The city has already outsourced
some computer repair services in the Information Technology Department
and is considering outsourcing several other city functions, including
maintaining city buildings and distributing library books from one
branch to another.
Florida Times-Union
NY: Debate on whether state parks should be privatized
The New York State Parks Department oversees 35 historic sites and 178
parks, including golf course and beaches, and is dealing with a slashed
budget. Geoffrey Croft of NYC Park Advocates debates privatization with
Leonard Gilroy of Reason Foundation. .
Fox (video)
TX: Vendor took license with auction info
A contractor that said Texas stands to reap a windfall from a vanity
license plate auction at Cowboys Stadium promoted the sale using
exaggerated results from other states. My Plates, the company Texas
hired to run the sale, has acknowledged that it erred in an
announcement last month that Delaware, Mississippi, New York,
Massachusetts and Illinois had raised millions from personalized tag
auctions. The Dallas Morning News found that none of those states
conducted special plate auctions for their general budgets...My Plates,
a joint venture of Pinnacle Technical Resources of Dallas and Etech
Inc. of Nacogdoches, has held the state contract for designing,
marketing and selling personalized Texas tags since 2009. It guarantees
the state at least $25 million over five years, regardless of
sales...Having an auction for personalized license plates is part of
the Texas law that cleared the way for privatizing the state's
specialty license plate business. One of its backers, Sen. Bob Deuell,
R-Greenville, said the error did not diminish his faith in My Plates'
ability to run the vanity plate program, calling it "just an honest
mistake." He had no idea what the plates might bring in but said every
dollar is needed for a state facing an $18 billion budget deficit.
Dallas Morning News
