PrivatizationWatch.Org

September 1, 2010

nospam@example.com (Editor) — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 13:54:06 -0400

Headlines

IL: Meter leasing metrics may give aldermen pause
MI: Court sides with schools in fight over privatizing security
OH: Lottery better if partially private, auditor says
UT: Privatizing parks - editorial
WI: School selling naming rights
This state park brought to you by...

News summaries

IL: Meter leasing metrics may give aldermen pause
As Mayor Richard Daley looks to narrow the gaping hole in next year's
city budget by hiring companies to take over government operations, his
last major foray into privatization serves as a cautionary tale. The
city's 75-year parking meter lease led to soaring rates and initial
troubles with jammed, broken and error-prone meters that angered many
drivers. The Daley administration went on to spend most of the one-time
$1.15 billion payment in just two years. Now the city faces a record
$655 million shortfall, and the mayor is ruling out a pre-election tax
hike. So Daley is shopping potential deals to private firms to take
over recycling, run the signature Taste of Chicago festival and fix
city vehicles. "I think anyone who voted for (the meter lease) is going to
have a hard time defending themselves, so they are going to look
hard at these privatization schemes to see if it's another boondoggle," said Ald.
Scott Waguespack, 32nd, one of only five aldermen to vote against the
lease in late 2008. Critics of the parking lease said records recently
obtained by the Tribune offer additional proof that the city would have
made far more money over time if it had kept the meters, gradually
raised prices and upgraded parking fee collection equipment on its own.
Chicago Tribune

MI: Court sides with schools in fight over privatizing security
Detroit Public Schools will reinstate its contract with a private
security firm following a ruling Monday by the Michigan Court of
Appeals. The district laid off 226 security guards this summer and
hired the private firm Securitas to patrol schools. The district said
the outsourcing would save money and boost school safety. But the
Teamsters 214, which represents the guards, challenged the
privatization and a Wayne Circuit Court judge last week ordered the
guards back to work. The district immediately filed an appeal. In an
order entered Monday, the Appeals Court said "because the union failed
to establish irreparable harm or an inadequate remedy at law, the
issuance of the preliminary injunction was inappropriate and
constituted an abuse of discretion." The Detroit News

OH: Lottery better if partially private, auditor says
The Ohio Lottery should reconstitute itself as a "quasi-public
corporation" to free itself from red tape and return more money to
public schools, the state auditor said yesterday. The Columbus Dispatch

UT: Privatizing parks - editorial
Before putting operations and services at a single park at risk, state
officials should await the results of a parks privatization report by
the Legislative Auditor General, and study the experience of other
state and municipal governments to determine if savings can be
realized, and at what cost. In the Beehive State, the anecdotal
evidence isn’t good. In the 1980s, a private firm was hired to operate
a campground at Willard Bay State Park. State Parks Director Mary
Tullius said it cost the state millions of dollars to clean up the mess
the firm left behind. More recently, she said, a concessionaire was
contracted to manage the Jordan River OHV park. The contract was
terminated when drug and alcohol use by visitors became
routine...Another key consideration should be keeping the parks, which
hosted a combined 4.8 million visitors in 2009, safe. State park
rangers, who could be replaced if parks are privatized, are certified
law enforcement officers....But to expect the parks system to pay its
own way is unrealistic, and overlooks the role the facilities play in
attracting tourists, preserving Utah history and maintaining our
quality of life. Providing ample recreation opportunities for citizens
is a legitimate government function, and a legitimate use of taxpayer
dollars. Salt Lake Tribune

WI: School selling naming rights
Sun Prairie's Education Foundation, working alongside the Sun Prairie
Area School District, is in the middle of offering naming rights for
various parts of the new high school....There have been no takers yet
on the school's $250,000 naming rights to the field house, but school
officials said the endowment campaign has already brought in more than
$400,000....District officials said naming rights for larger venues
like the field house are still up for grabs..School officials say the
donations will not affect school finances generated by taxpayer
dollars. It will serve as an independent fund through the Sun Prairie
Education Foundation.WISC Madison

This state park brought to you by...
Through a corporate sponsorship agreement, Verizon is teaming up with
the Boy Scouts to restore trails and bridges in many Georgia State
Parks....The company is providing funding for tools and supplies as the
scouts perform service projects around the state. In exchange, Georgia
is recognizing Verizon Wireless in publicity materials and on the
Georgia Department of Natural Resources Web site. The partnership is
among the first steps in a broader strategy Georgia is taking to seek
corporate sponsorships in its state parks...Those could include more
programmatic sponsorships like the one with Verizon, or putting
advertisements on everything from boat ramps to park signs....[A]
growing number of states are trying out or considering corporate
sponsorship or exclusive distribution deals as a way to help close
budget gaps. State parks have traditionally resisted any type of
commercialization, says Phillip McKnelly, the association’s executive
director, and the interest in pursuing corporate partnerships is a
relatively new phenomenon driven by the severity of funding crises in
state park systems. Stateline.org

August 31, 2010

nospam@example.com (Editor) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:40:19 -0400

Headlines

Facing budget gaps, cities sell parking, airports, zoo
Contractors resist disclosure effort
Cash-poor governments ditching public hospitals
AZ: Escape slows prison privatization
IL: Chicago’s plans for privately-funded airport link revived
IL: Daley may privatize Taste Of Chicago, recycling, pound and more
WV: Fearing privatized tech jobs, state workers sue
UT: Utah could lose tax dollars through liquor privatization
IN: Indy council approves parking meter rate hike
NY: Workers at city-run laundry to protest privatization
IL: Rockford to look at more outsourcing
WA: Republicans back workers comp privatization

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August 20, 2010

nospam@example.com (Editor) — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 10:15:19 -0400

VA: Senate Dem: Selling ABC stores dead in Senate
Gov. Bob McDonnell's plan to raise money for transportation by selling
Virginia's state-owned liquor stores is dead, the Senate's top Democrat
said Thursday. "I would say right now that it would not pass, nor is it
even close ... in the Senate, and I would doubt whether he could get it
out of the House," said Senate Majority Leader Richard L. Saslaw,
D-Fairfax County....Saslaw and other Democrats question McDonnell's
estimates and say the annual revenues that the stores now generate in
taxes and profits could not be matched by privately run stores. He
cited Ohio's privatization effort as an example. "Here's Ohio with 2½
times our population and 1,000 stores, (and) the state gets $167
million. Us, with 40 percent of (Ohio's) population is getting $230
million," Saslaw told reporters. The only way to achieve the same
revenues after privatization, Saslaw contends, is to triple the amount
of liquor sold in Virginia. "We're going to build roads by putting
drunks out there driving these cars," Saslaw said with a laugh.
Fredericksburg.com

IL: New RTA leader calls for more public-private partnerships
John Gates Jr., a successful businessman named Thursday as the new
chairman of the Regional Transportation Authority, acknowledges he has
a steep learning curve ahead of him about buses and trains, but he
intends to use his financial expertise to bring more private-sector
involvement into mass transit....Gates is chairman and CEO of PortaeCo,
an investment firm. Previously, Gates co-founded CenterPoint Properties
Trust and served there 22 years. CenterPoint developed three massive
intermodal freight facilities in Will and Ogle counties. Gates says he
is a great believer in public-private partnerships. With taxpayer funds
from Springfield and Washington, D.C., becoming scarce, Gates urges
tapping private-sector capital and expertise. "Capital is looking for a
home, and I think metropolitan Chicago would make a good one," Gates
said. He pointed to Daley's plan Wednesday to lure private investors to
operate express trains between downtown Chicago and O'Hare
International Airport. Chicago Tribune

AZ: State rips private prison, begins making changes
The escape of three inmates from an Arizona prison will bring sweeping
changes to the privately run facility near Kingman and could alter the
way the state's prison system handles dangerous criminals in years to
come. The Arizona Republic

August 19, 2010

nospam@example.com (Editor) — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 11:29:10 -0400

Headlines

What's costlier than a government run prison? A private one
TX: State plans to end IT outsourcing deal with IBM
VA: Nixon tries to fix Virginia's IT outsourcing effort
CA: LA city council to vote on privatizing parking garages
OK: City to file lawsuit about privatizing sales tax collection

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August 18, 2010

nospam@example.com (Editor) — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 14:50:48 -0400

OH: Repub wants to privatize state's econ. development work
Republican gubernatorial candidate John Kasich wants to abolish a state
agency devoted to job creation and replace it with a privatized, corporate
board that he would appoint and chair. Kasich's announcement of his
"JobsOhio" plan immediately raised questions about whether privatizing
a governmental duty and giving it tax dollars is legal or constitutional.
Republicans insist it is. Democrats aren't certain. Cleveland Plain Dealer

UT: Study: Privatizing state hospital not worth it
That was the message Tuesday from a consulting group to the Utah
Legislature's Executive Appropriations Committee. The Legislature began
looking at ways to save money at the two state-run institutions in
2009. Boston-based consulting firm PCG won the contract to examine if
privatizing portions of the two institutions could save Utah some
money. The result, said PCG's Kevin Coyle, is that it would be
financially possible to privatize portions of the state hospital and
the developmental center and get some cost savings. But quality care at
a psychiatric hospital is contingent on highly skilled, qualified and
consistent staff, the report states, especially in the forensic unit,
which is for maximum-security, inpatient housing for up to 100 patients
at the Utah State Hospital.And other states have had mixed results with
privatizing their state hospitals. Louisiana is working on such a plan
right now. Florida has successfully privatized one civil and two
forensic mental health facilities. And Georgia, in 2009, and
Pennsylvania, in 2007, retracted their plans to privatize the forensic
operations at state hospitals. Based on the report, Coyle said,
privatization "is not in the best interest of this state." Deseret News

August 17, 2010

nospam@example.com (Editor) — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 16:26:19 -0400

Do states get a return on sports facilities investments
On Friday, the State Comptroller of New York, Thomas P. DiNapoli said
he didn't know whether New York was getting any kind of return on the
state's investments in stadium and arena projects in Buffalo, Rochester
and especially the Bronx with the Yankees and Queens with the Mets. New
York State also has hundreds of millions of dollars slated to go into
the Brooklyn arena project construction that when finished will become
the home of the Newark-based New Jersey Nets National Basketball
Association franchise.D iNapoli was quick and seemed very honest when
saying that he had no idea if his state was getting any kind of benefit
from a minor league baseball park in Buffalo or a hockey arena in
Buffalo or a minor league stadium in Rochester. New York is a State
spending hundreds of millions of dollars for infrastructure in the
Bronx and Queens as is New York City for the Yankees and Mets stadiums.
DiNapoli said New York State has never done a survey and figured out if
spending what is probably a billion dollars for sports venues in
Albany, Binghamton, the Bronx. Buffalo, Elmira, Queens. Staten Island,
Syracuse and other locales in the state was worth the effort. NewJerseyNewsRoom.com

This state park brought to you by...
Faced with the prospect of closing parks or facilities, some states are
turning to a funding opportunity long considered taboo: sponsorship
agreements with corporations. According to preliminary survey results
from the National Association of State Park Directors, a growing number
of states are trying out or considering corporate sponsorship or
exclusive distribution deals as a way to help close budget gaps. State
parks have traditionally resisted any type of commercialization, says
Phillip McKnelly, the association’s executive director, and the
interest in pursuing corporate partnerships is a relatively new
phenomenon driven by the severity of funding crises in state park
systems. Stateline

GA: Johns Creek moves away from privatized service
Johns Creek is taking a giant leap away from its reliance on a private
company to run the city....[C]ity officials unveiled a proposed 2011
budget of $55.2 million that would cut the city's contract with CH2M
Hill from about $17 million in 2010 to $5 million in 2011....Much of
the savings will be used to hire staff formerly provided by the company
and for one-time transition expenses, such as the purchase of office
and computer equipment, software and conversion of vehicles to city
ownership. CH2M Hill would still provide public works and community
development services....Johns Creek is facing a decline in property
values, meaning that if the millage rate stays the same it will bring
in less money. Finance Director Monte Vavra said the city's tax digest
fell from $4.04 billion last year to $3.9 billion this year.
Nevertheless, Vavra said, the budget is being built to allow for the
drop in revenue without increasing the property tax levy of 4.614
mills. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution