Headlines
NY: Throw grenade, walk away – opinion
NY: Concern over privatization of Nassau sewer system
PA: Thousands to rally Wednesday against school cuts
PA: Privatizing liquor shops divides politicians
IN: Sratching away at the Hoosier Lottery
IN: Governor hopefuls differ on issue of privatization
VA: Road project funding close to running dry in Virginia
CA: Bill would clear path for two-tiered pricing at Calif. community colleges
CA: Two northern California cities dump red light cameras
WA: Eleven more state liquor stores shutting down
IL: U.S. 20 group weighs toll detour around Congress
MS: Private prison guard dies, others hurt in ‘disturbance’
MS: Gautier halts plans to privatize public works department
MI: Editorial: Mistaken prison cuts
AZ: Prison health care needs overhaul, not simple outsourcing – opinion
TX: Private group might be chosen to run Austin’s botanical garden
NY: Throw grenade, walk away – opinion
Public education has been a disaster for Andrew Cuomo, and vice versa. Right from the start of his administration, he’s used the wrong tactics, the wrong strategies and the wrong sequences if he had any intention of actually elevating New York’s public education system and giving especially stressed urban and rural school districts a much-needed boost. In two years of nastiness from his bully pulpit, he has derided teachers, their unions, administrators and school boards, and made them out to be barely competent. Yet, with ashes in his mouth, he portrays himself as the state’s No. 1 advocate for students. And his tearing apart teachers helps students how, exactly? His favorite statistics, to support his education-bashing, have been that New York pays more per pupil than any other state, yet has a 38 percent graduation rate. Those statistics are galling because they are highly misleading. New York yearly jockeys with Connecticut and New Jersey for the highest per pupil cost. They are neighboring states, you’ll notice, a factor that has a bearing on high costs. The low graduation rate is dictated by New York City, where 140 languages are spoken and that has challenges and hardships completely alien to upstate and Long Island education. Albany Times Union
NY: Concern over privatization of Nassau sewer system
The county administration is only saying that a private firm, through a series of complex legal and financial arrangements, will take over from the county the operation, maintenance and improvement of the county’s wastewater management system in what would be the largest public-private sewer partnership in the United States. However, as we experienced when our buses were privatized and the police precincts were reduced, there are no documents for public review. I am concerned that, like the ill-fated effort last summer to borrow up to $400 million for construction of a new Nassau County Coliseum, this project is moving forward without any notice or opportunity for the public’s questions and concerns to be heard in an impartial forum. New Hyde Park Patch
PA: Thousands to rally Wednesday against school cuts
No, the rumor of a district-wide strike isn’t true. But the blue-collar union that represents nearly 3,000 bus drivers, janitors and other Philadelphia school employees is planning a large rally Wednesday in Center City to protest mass layoffs and attempts to privatize public education. Thousands are expected. Philadelphia Inquirer
PA: Privatizing liquor shops divides politicians
While liquor store privatization legislation languishes in the state House, the latest salvo in the debate suggests states with tighter controls on liquor sales have fewer alcohol-related highway fatalities. Altoona Mirror
IN: Sratching away at the Hoosier Lottery
The political football known as the Hoosier Lottery is in play, again. The Gov. Mitch Daniels administration is taking bids from contractors who can help an operation that has seen revenues shrink. Statehouse Democrats are grumbling about another attempt to privatize a part of state government and the money that could be lost and didn’t-Mitch-learn-from-the-IBM-welfare-privatizing debacle and … You get the drift. Journal and Courier
IN: Governor hopefuls differ on issue of privatization
Indiana Democratic gubernatorial hopeful John Gregg said he opposes privatizing state government tasks, while the Republican candidate, Mike Pence, is more open to it. Evening News and Tribune
VA: Road project funding close to running dry in Virginia
The public outcry over tolls planned for the Downtown and Midtown tunnels has illuminated a harsh reality: The state is nearly tapped out of money to build roads…Voters and legislators have resisted raising taxes, which is why the state has turned to the public-private partnerships to build big projects such as the expansion of the Midtown Tunnel. Elizabeth River Crossings, in partnership with the state, will begin construction later this year on a parallel Midtown tube, improvements to the existing Midtown and Downtown tunnels, and extending the Martin Luther King Freeway. Tunnel tolls will start at $1.84 during rush hour beginning in January 2014. Virginia Pilot
CA: Bill would clear path for two-tiered pricing at Calif. community colleges
Leaders at Santa Monica College in March unveiled a controversial plan to create a self-supporting private foundation to help meet student demand by offering courses at four times the cost of overbooked state-financed courses. But they shelved that idea in April, after a fierce backlash and the pepper-spraying of protesting students…That could change if Roderick D. Wright gets his way. The California state senator in February introduced legislation that would smooth the way for community colleges to do essentially what Santa Monica’s governing board proposed, by authorizing the creation of “self-supporting” extension programs that offer credit-bearing courses. Inside Higher Ed
CA: Two northern California cities dump red light cameras
In October 2005, city officials granted Redflex Traffic Systems, an Australian company, the right to issue traffic tickets, now worth $449 each. Redflex bills the city $18,576 per month to dish out citations at the corner of Garden Highway and Lincoln Road as well as Gray Avenue and Bridge Street. For police, one of the most significant time commitments is the requirement that the same officer who presses the button approving violations submitted by Redflex also appear to testify in court. According to the city’s accounting, police spent less than five hours per week on the program, with a quarter of that amount spent preparing for or appearing at a hearing. TheNewspaper.com
WA: Eleven more state liquor stores shutting down
Eleven more state liquor stores in Washington will shut down on May 22 to compensate for staff vacancies, as state liquor employees leave for new jobs during Washington’s transition into privatizing liquor sales and distribution. Bizjournals.com
IL: U.S. 20 group weighs toll detour around Congress
After 30 years of trying in vain to get funding for a four-lane freeway from Galena to Freeport, the U.S. 20 Coalition has started “talking tollway. John Cox, the Galena attorney who has been at the forefront of those efforts, told a meeting Friday of the Tri State Alliance, a regional transportation advocacy group, that the U.S. 20 group wants to ask the Illinois Toll Highway Authority to study the feasibility of building a 47-mile tollway to connect Freeport’s bypass with the bypass that is planned to run north of Galena. Rockford Register Star
MS: Private prison guard dies, others hurt in ‘disturbance’
A guard at a southwest Mississippi prison died Sunday and several other employees were injured during what the facility’s private operator is calling “an inmate disturbance” that continued into the evening. U.S. News & World Report
MS: Gautier halts plans to privatize public works department
Gautier has halted plans to privatize its public works department. The city council recently voted to stop the process. The move comes as the city began accepting several professional service proposals for the month of May. Some public workers feared privatizing would mean a loss of jobs. But Mayor Tommy Fortenberry said, the change could have helped the city repair critical infrastructure problems faster and save on labor cost. The mayor wants city council members to reexamines the issue. WLOX
MI:Editorial: Mistaken prison cuts
Legislators continue to view privatization as a near-panacea for the state’s budget woes, despite little or no evidence. In Arizona, for example, the Department of Corrections concluded that its private prisons ended up costing $1,600 more per inmate each year. Moreover, a recent federal investigation found a “cesspool” of conditions at a Mississippi youth prison run by the private company most likely to operate a private prison in Michigan. The company, GEO Group Inc. of Florida, also paid a $1.1-million fine for understaffing New Mexico prisons…Everyone wants a state that spends more on educating people than locking them up. To get us there, legislators should focus on proven measures to safely reduce the population instead of cutting rehabilitation programs and giving private, for-profit companies greater control over Michigan’s prison system. Detroit Free Press
AZ: Prison health care needs overhaul, not simple outsourcing – opinion
..A lawsuit filed in March documented numerous examples of extreme indifference on the part of prison officials…Last week, the Arizona Department of Corrections responded to the lawsuit by denying claims that they have ignored the basic health-care needs of prisoners. The response comes on the heels of a prior announcement by the state prison system that it will outsource the delivery of health care to Wexford — a for-profit prison corporation that critics say has a history of incompetence, waste and corruption. As bad as conditions are in the Department of Corrections, the state’s decision to hire Wexford will only make things worse. Wexford’s gross lack of regard for prisoner health is well documented. Mississippi released a report noting that Wexford did not adhere to its own standards in following up on inmates with chronic health problems. In New Mexico, Dr. Ray Puckett, a dentist working in the Lea County Correctional Facility, reported that the Wexford-run prison was so understaffed that inmates waited months to be seen for abscesses, cavities and tooth extractions. Arizona Republic
TX: Private group might be chosen to run Austin’s botanical garden
Austin’s parks department might hire a company or nonprofit to operate Zilker Botanical Garden, saying a private entity unburdened by the department’s budget and staffing constraints might do a better job running the 26-acre oasis. Under Parks Director Sara Hensley, who took over in 2008, the department has pursued more of these public-private partnerships, saying it can no longer rely on tax dollars alone to manage 20,000 acres of parkland. Austin American-Statesman