News

GA: Georgia privatizing five state parks with upscale lodges and golf courses. Park employees, who learned Monday of the dismissals, should be able to reapply for their old jobs through Coral Hospitality, the Coral Gables, Fla., hotel and resort management company that will run the parks….News of the change didn’t go over well with employees at Amicalola Falls State Park, said Jim McMartin, who works at the park kiosk and takes the $5 entrance fee from visitors. “They just sprung it on us yesterday,” McMartin said Tuesday. “Nobody thinks much of it.” “They’re out of Naples, Fla.,” he said of Coral. “The money, whatever they make, is not going to stay in Georgia. It’s going to go out of state.”  Times Free Press

FL: Privatized Justice. The privately funded prosecutor at the State Attorney’s office is soon to be no more. State Attorney Catherine Vogel has apparently decided to silence the controversy involving special DUI prosecutor Nick Trovato.  Trovato was initially hired pursuant to a $ 52,000 contract between the office of the State Attorney and the Monroe County Coalition (MCC) and the Guidance/Care Center (GCC). The deal came under fire last week when local defense attorney, Jiulio Margalli, exposed the contract claiming it constituted a conflict of interest and amounted to an unconstitutional funding of the State Attorney’s office….. According to Jiulio Margalli there are indications that this may be happening in other Counties.     He believes that Ms. Vogel may be cancelling the contract in order to effectively render moot any judicial review which could have far-reaching implications and possibly involve a lot more than the $52,000 for this one DUI prosecutor. TheBluePaper.com

TX: Prison Watchdog Demands Info on CCA. Prison Legal News sued the Corrections Corporation of America, the nation’s largest private prison contractor, for records about its contracts in Texas and lawsuits filed against CCA there….The nonprofit claims that CCA blew off its March 1 public records request for records about “Contracts between CCA, the state, and local counties and municipalities … Petitions from lawsuits filed against CCA in Texas … Settlements, verdicts, and injunctive orders entered against CCA in Texas.” But “CCA ignored Texas law and disregarded the request, producing nothing,” Prison Legal News says…. Federal and state governments and private prison companies have used privatization to deny oversight to the press, the public and regulators. Governments have claimed they are not responsible for what goes on in the prisons, and the private companies have claimed that inconvenient laws, such as FOIA and state public records laws, do not apply to them. The Corrections Corporation of America has been sued 416 in the past 3 years, according to the Courthouse News database. Many of the lawsuits allege physical and sexual abuse from guards. Prison Legal News is part of a coalition urging U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas to reintroduce the Private Prison Information Act in Congress.  Courthouse News Service

NH: Bill to forbid private prisons is killed. The votes comes several weeks after state corrections officials and the Attorney General’s office announced that the state was cancelling the bidding process for privatizing state prisons because of what they said were inadequate proposals  The Union Leader

WI: Opinion: I hate to say I told you so, but…So the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) is a huge disaster. It turns out that dismantling the Commerce Department was a mistake. Who could have predicted that? Oh, wait, I did! Anyway, in February, 2011, when the Wisconsin Legislature approved  Walker’s proposal to partly privatize the Department of Commerce, one senator who voted for the change said the state needed to “do something different. This is different.” (I don’t think by “different” he meant “worse” but that’s what we got.) Those questioning the move pointed to Indiana and Michigan where unemployment was, and still is, higher than in Wisconsin. Indiana’s unemployment rate is 8.7%, Michigan’s is 8.5%, and Wisconsin’s is 7.1%. So basically we copied the brilliant plan from states that have worse unemployment than we do and now our rate is going up. The WEDC has spent millions on its own administration and given away $172 million in loans, grants and tax credits and what do we have to show for it? We’ve dropped from 11th in the nation in job creation to 44th. You’re doing a heck of a job, WEDC!   Milwaukee Journal

News

PA: Kane: Lottery deal must have Assembly role. Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane said Wednesday that she expected to receive the Corbett administration’s revised contract to privatize the Pennsylvania Lottery any day now – but signaled that she likely will not approve the proposal unless the legislature gets to sign off. “They would have to vote on it just like any other privatization deal, and also, they would have to change the gaming rules,” Kane said. She added that she had seen no sign that the legislature would be given such a role. Philly.com

PA: Harrisburg lobbying firm reps both sides in liquor privatization fight. A Harrisburg lobbying firm representing the state liquor store clerks earned more than $1 million last year for campaign work on behalf of Republicans, who are pushing privatization of liquor sales. Tribune-Review

NJ: CWA releases radio ad attacking Christie’s lottery privatization plan. Chris Christie’s plan to privatize parts of the state lottery. In the 60-second spot called “Sketchy,” the Communication Workers of America says the plan is illegal and will lead to thousands of job losses. Hunterdon County Democrat

IL: Opinion: Chicago Mayor Makes Parking Meter Deal Worse. Chicago, Illinois Mayor Rahm Emanuel may have done the impossible. He may have actually made Chicago’s reviled parking meter lease deal even worse. At a press conference Monday morning Emanuel announced a settlement in the ongoing legal battle between the city and Chicago Parking Meters, LLC (CPM). Initially, it sounded like the city had indeed arm twisted some mild improvements to the universally despised deal out of CPM, but as details of the proposed settlement emerged, Emanuel’s allegedly new and improved parking meter lease deal looks like it could make things even more challenging and expensive for Chicago drivers. TheNewspaper.com

 

News

PA: Variety of groups inject money into fight over privatizing liquor sales. Convenience stores, business advocates and political groups are jockeying for state lawmakers’ votes on privatization of liquor sales in Pennsylvania with specialty websites, TV ads and face-to-face meetings. The Senate Law and Justice Committee held its first of three hearings on Tuesday on the decades-long fight. Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania, a privatization proponent, is airing a TV ad in southeastern Pennsylvania targeting Sen. Chuck McIlhinney, R-Bucks County, who chairs the committee considering privatization. The ad claims McIlhinney is “siding with union bosses who want to keep taxpayers footing the bill for Pennsylvania’s broken government-run liquor store system.” Tribune-Review

WI: Editorial: Evidence doesn’t support choice program expansion. Legislators should be skeptical of a proposal by Gov. Scott Walker to sharply expand the school voucher program. There isn’t much evidence that students in voucher schools are better educated; in fact, they seem to perform at about the same level as their peers in mainline public schools…. But here’s the bottom line: The evidence isn’t persuasive that the choice schools have had much impact on achievement. Kids in the voucher schools do about the same, overall, as their peers in the public schools. And that underwhelming finding surely is not enough to justify a broad expansion that seems based more on ideology than on anything else. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

LA: Suits against state government mounting. The new legal threat on the horizon comes from Rep. Marcus Hunter, D-Monroe, who told KTBS-V in Shreveport that he will soon sue to assert the Legislature’s authority to review Jindal’s proposed privatization agreements for public hospitals. According to a recent attorney general’s opinion, the governor does not have to seek lawmakers’ approval to implement privatization, but most legislators want a say in that process anyhow. Ville Platte Gazette

PA: PennDOT Now Accepting Unsolicited P3 Transportation Proposals. During this period, the private sector can submit proposals offering innovative ways to deliver transportation projects across a variety of modes including roads, bridges, rail, aviation and ports. Proposals can also include more efficient models to manage existing transportation-related services and programs….Public and Private Partnerships for Transportation Act, which authorized P3 projects in Pennsylvania. This law allows PennDOT and other transportation authorities and commissions to partner with private companies to participate in delivering, maintaining and financing transportation-related projects. Sacramento Bee

FL: Thom Hartmann; Privatizing Medicaid isn’t enough for Florida Republicans. Even after getting a voucher to allow the state to privatize Medicaid, Florida still wants to screw over the poor.  Last Friday, the Republican-controlled Florida state house rejected federal funding for their Medicaid expansion.  Instead, they want to open the state up to more private insurance carriers…. Under the Florida Republican’s plan, those families will now have to select a private high-deductible plan, which means less care and more money out of pocket.  Where are the so-called compassionate conservatives?  If Florida Republicans think it’s so easy to raise a family on poverty wages, they should try doing so themselves… and try to cover the cost of corporate healthcare while they’re at it. ThomHartman.com

StudentsFirst under scrutiny from the left. Michelle Rhee frequently says her StudentsFirst lobbying group is a bipartisan organization that backs Democrats and Republicans who support her vision for education: charter schools, vouchers and performance pay for teachers. But left-leaning critics of the group routinely cast StudentsFirst as a Republican outfit, out of step with the union values many Democrats hold dear. Last month, California Democrats wouldn’t let StudentsFirst have a booth at the party’s state convention and Dean Vogel, president of the California Teachers Association, gave a speech saying the group is “backed by moneyed interests, Republican operatives and out-of-state Wall Street billionaires dedicated to school privatization and trampling on teacher and worker rights.”   Sacramento Bee

 

 

News

MI: In reversal, Mich. privatizing prison food service. State officials reversed themselves Tuesday in deciding to hire a private company to prepare food for Michigan’s 44,000 prisoners, saying they originally misjudged a plan that would actually save the state about $16 million. The Michigan Department of Corrections sent a notification to state employees of the decision, which puts the jobs of 373 workers at risk. The agency initially said the plan would not save enough money. But on Tuesday, agency officials said mistakes were made in evaluating bidders’ proposals, including comparisons between the private sector and state costs that were not “apples to apples.”  Philly.com

PA: Corbett’s liquor privatization plan on life support. First came the cops. Then came the drug-and-alcohol counselors. Next up was the moms. And finally, the kids. All of them told a state Senate committee Tuesday they oppose a plan to privatize wine and spirits sales and make beer more readily available under a House-approved bill supported by Gov. Tom Corbett. Indeed, the one-sided panel signaled in stark terms that the House-passed bill is on life support in the Senate. That means Corbett’s vision of privatization is unlikely to become law. What, if anything, will pass to replace Pennsylvania’s dated booze-distribution system remains unknown. This much is clear: A key Senate committee chairman effectively pulled the plug on the House’s version of privatization just two months before a June 30 deadline for a new state budget. “I am on record saying I will not support the House bill,” Sen. Chuck McIlhinney, R-Bucks, chairman of the Law and Justice Committee, said after the hearing. Allentown Morning Call

PA: Privatization would boost drinking, board hears. Witnesses from the union for state troopers, who enforce liquor laws, and from drug and alcohol prevention and treatment groups said privatizing would lead to more liquor outlets, more drinking, and more alcohol-related crime and violence. Philly.com

TX: Bill would open Loop 1604 to private company. The Texas House of Representatives passed a bill Tuesday that would open the door to a private developer one day building a toll road project on Loop 1604. If the bill becomes law, state or local transportation officials would have the option to partner with a company or other private entity that could front the money to develop, finance, build, maintain and operate the toll road…. The state owns the road but a private consortium, made up of Spanish-based Cintra and San Antonio-based Zachry American Infrastructure, built and maintains it. The consortium shares toll revenues with the state for the duration of a five-decade lease. San Antonio Express

 

 

News

FL: Local attorney discovers he is fighting a prosecutor paid by a private company.  So, private corporations are adding privately funded prosecutors to the Monroe County State Attorney’s Office.  Really?  Do we have Monroe County prosecutors whose salaries are paid by private companies?  “Indirectly, yes, and that deal is unconstitutional,” says local defense attorney Jiulio Margalli. Margalli is referring to an agreement, entered into last December, by which the Guidance/Care Center (GCC) and Monroe County Coalition (MCC), both private entitles, are paying the State Attorney’s Office for a special prosecutor to “increase prosecutions of DUI cases.”  The Blue Paper

LA: The Great Takeover: The New Orleans Public Schools in Post-Katrina Louisiana. A writer recently hailed federal and state education reform as a new civil rights movement. But the word reform, which means “the improvement . . . of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory,” can hardly be applied to the recent changes in educational law. Most of these changes are not for the better. Instead, they create a separate and wholly unequal educational system masquerading as choice, which serves to destabilize and discredit public schools in the name of improvement and to make state funds accessible to a wide range of individuals and corporations with little or no oversight. This article examines recent legislation that dramatically expanded state takeover of schools after Hurricane Katrina, shows how the changes are contrary to educational research on effective schools, and points to some examples of schools and programs gone awry under this new regime. Louisiana Voice

MD: Untold health risks of privatizing Citizens-Montevu. This is of concern to so many of us now because our county commissioners are moving rapidly to sell Citizens Care & Rehabilitation Center and Montevue Assisted Living. Montevue is home for some 75 elderly and frail Frederick County residents, 60 of whom have extremely limited resources, if any, and whose support is subsidized by us, the taxpayers of this county.  The Frederick News Post

IL: Illinois American, Aqua Illinois Push Bill To Privatize Municipal Water Systems, Automatically Raise Rates To Finance Purchases. Legislation moving quickly through Springfield would allow the state’s biggest private water companies, Illinois American Water and Aqua Illinois, to fast-track takeovers of municipal water systems and automatically charge current customers higher rates to fund those conquests, the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) warned Monday. Citizens Utility Board PR

 

IL: Legal fight settled over Chicago parking meters.  Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Monday that he was able to tweak a deal to privatize the city’s parking meters that has proven to be a national embarrassment even as he acknowledged that the city is stuck for the next 71 years with a contract he inherited and despises…. Emanuel, who called his proposal an effort to “make a little lemonade out of a big lemon,” said he was able to secure from Chicago Parking Meters LLC an agreement to stop charging for parking in the city’s residential neighborhoods on Sundays. But to get that concession, Emanuel had to give one: Metered parking hours will be extended an hour until 10 p.m., as well as an additional three hours in the trendy near North Side. The Seattle Times

NJ:  Commentary: Why privatize the New Jersey Lottery? By all accounts, the New Jersey Lottery is enormously successful. Last year, it brought in $2.7 billion, a record and a 4.5 percent increase over last year. So why does Chris Christie want to privatize it? As far as deals go, this one stinks. First of all, it’s a 15-year contract – a long time to be in bed with a partner you’ve just met. Second, only one company bid for the contract – GTECH, a controversial Italian firm that has already been involved in one kickback scheme in New Jersey, and is dealing with a lawsuit in Illinois after taking over their lottery.  NewsWorks

TX: Group opposes privatization proposal at UT. Opponents of a proposed effort to privatize some nonacademic jobs at the University of Texas will hold a press conference at noon Tuesday on the west mall of the campus to discuss their concerns about decreases in service and potential job losses for longtime university employees….Parking and food service were the two areas explicitly mentioned as having potential for savings through third-party vendors, but SOCC member and UT student Sydney Dwoskin said the group is worried most service job classifications would eventually be targeted, resulting in job loss or dramatically reduced pay and benefits. Her group is lobbying to stop any privatization and to have UT President Bill Powers solicit student and community involvement on such matters. Austin Business Journal

HI: Public-private authority bill dies. Hawaii lawmakers have killed a measure that would have created a new agency called the Public-Private Partnership Authority. A panel of negotiators met Friday and decided to defer the bill. Maui News

News

LA: Lawmakers scrutinize LSU privatization. Lawmakers are raising questions about whether the LSU privatization agreements devised by Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration provide enough public scrutiny of the hundreds of millions of dollars at stake. he concerns were voiced Friday as the Legislature’s joint budget committee reviewed agreements to turn over management of LSU’s Lafayette and New Orleans hospitals to nonprofit’s that run private hospitals. Committee members also say information is murky on the cost of the deals and how they will affect the state budget annually. KLFY

NJ: Sole bidder in lottery privatization plan will expand retail outlets. The lone bidder in a plan to privatize New Jersey’s lottery will generate new revenue for the state by increasing the number of stores that sell tickets and developing “transformative” designs for lottery games.  NorthJersey.com

FL: Budget push for more privatization skirts transparency. Budget language that would ask the state to develop a plan to move those with developmental disabilities through a managed care system has drawn fire. “We are concerned that managed care options may further cut services and reduce the inserted at the last minute without public discussion. ability of individuals with developmental disabilities to live in the community,” stated a release by the Florida Developmental Disabilities Council. “Stakeholders for those with developmental disabilities were surprised that this language appeared during the last day of the (Health and Human Services/Healthcare) budget conference process and was quickly accepted.” The language in question was slipped into the legislative health care budget without discussion on Tuesday morning.  Naked Politics

FL: Negron rejects privatization plan. On Tuesday, language that would require the state to  develop a plan to move those with developmental disabilities through a managed care system was added at the final joint budget conference between the House and Senate appropriation committees. Non-profit groups objected, saying it was a last-minute addition that could have huge ramifications for those with disabilities and deserved a public reckoning. Sen. Joe Negron , R-Stuart, was no fan of the add either. Asked Friday night if it would remain in the budget, Negron didn’t hesitate with a reply. “We’re not doing it,” he said. “I won’t support it, we’re not doing it.”  Tampa Bay Times

NC: Op-Ed: Dr. Jo Ellen Hirsch – Don’t let North Carolina privatize Medicaid. There are three strong reasons thoughtful legislators should oppose the privatization of Medicaid in North Carolina. Private insurers are obligated and responsible to shareholders, not to the citizens of North Carolina. Fayetteville Observer

NY: Privatization of the Commons in Mayor Bloomberg’s New York. Greg Miller is Executive Director and Founder of Dance Parade, a not-for-profit cultural organization which organizes an annual event in New York City. Seven years ago, he held his first event in Washington Square Park. The end of the parade wrapped up under the park’s Arch. The following year, Miller wanted to repeat the event at the historic downtown park but it had since gone under construction and was inaccessible. So he looked to midtown’s Bryant Park. He spent “many hours putting together a proposal” for the four hour free event, “very detailed, which is what they require.” The ‘they’ is the Bryant Park Corporation from which he received a response: “Thank you, that will cost you $100,000 — at the non-profit fee.” As a non-profit, this was well out of range of their budget; the group ended up at Tompkins Square Park in the East Village at a fraction of the cost. Such is the way private corporations now running many New York City parks discriminate against the public’s use without giving the appearance of selectively censoring particular projects. Huffington Post

PA: The liquor privatization battle moves to the Senate. On April 30, Sen. Chuck McIlhinney, a Bucks County Republican, will hold court as chairman over a much-anticipated Senate Law and Justice Committee hearing, one of three scheduled this spring on the topic of liquor privatization…..Earlier this year, he proposed legislation that would modernize the state liquor system and keep the state-run stores. He spoke out against Corbett’s liquor privatization proposal, and in March flat out said he wouldn’t have supported the House bill designed to privatize liquor. But in a surprise move earlier this week, McIlhinney told Philadelphia radio show host Dom Giordano he favors the idea of selling off the state’s liquor stores. In addition, he said he supports a freer retail market than the version passed in the House…. In the meantime, the conservative Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania has launched a television campaign in the Bucks County market targeting McIlhinney. The ads accuse the senator of being against privatization and voting in the past in favor of big government corporations.  PennLive.com

TX: Mayor Ponders Privatizing Airport. Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell says he’s considering a plan to lease out the Austin -Bergstrom International Airport to help pay for future urban rail. KUT News

News

NJ: Treasurer: Lottery contract ‘a good deal’ for NJ. Treasurer Andrew Eristoff told the Assembly Budget Committee that the 15-year deal with the lone bidder, a joint venture named Northstar New Jersey, is good for the state….Sen. Barbara Buono, a Democrat running for governor, said Christie’s motivation for handing over a portion of the lottery is strictly financial; the administration is counting on the up-front payment to come through before the current budget year ends on June 30. She said Christie is using the one-time payment to plug a budget hole though he’s frequently criticized Democrats, including his predecessor, Gov. Jon Corzine, for their use of so-called one-shots. San Francisco Chronicle

PA: Allentown approves $220 million lease of water system to Lehigh County Authority. Opposition to the proposal has been fierce and has continued right up to the vote. That opposition has included concerns about privatizing the system – somewhat allayed with the nonprofit authority’s winning bid – but many opponents claim the city has refused to allow the public full access to the bidding process.  Council chambers were nearly full and during public comment period speakers lined up out the door of the auditorium. Opponents have said the city didn’t provide enough information to the public to properly weigh alternatives. Eichenwald and some of the other speakers were concerned that no information was made public about the other bids prior to the vote, and said the city will face lawsuits and possible sanctions for violation of the state Sunshine Act. The Express Times

NY: NYS proposal would give PSEG near control of LIPA. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is considering a plan that would give a New Jersey company nearly complete control of the Long Island electric system.  Cuomo secretary Larry Schwartz said state officials are in discussions with PSEG. It’s already set to take over management of Long Island’s electric grid in January. Newsday

AL: Opinion: Birmingham Airport case: When is public business none of the public’s business? The specific question is whether the publicly owned, tax-supported Birmingham Airport Authority can turn over a $200 million building project to private companies such as Brasfield & Gorrie and the KPS Group, and then use those private companies to shield its business from public view. The bigger question is this: Can any public entity outsource the public’s business, and then claim, merely by hiring somebody to do its job, that it is not the public’s business anymore? Those are critical questions at a critical time, for the move toward privatization has already put much public work in shadow.  AL.co

ID: Protests filed against aquifer recharge plan. More than 20 individuals and groups, including the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Western Watersheds Project and the Idaho Conservation League, have filed protests against a plan to use unclaimed water in the Big Wood River to recharge the local aquifer and sell that water to irrigators during the summer….. She said the ICL also objects to “privatizing and monetizing a public resource in a way that hasn’t been done in Idaho.” Idaho Mountain Express and Guide

Calls to Privatize the FAA Follow Controller Furloughs and Airport Delays. It didn’t take long for calls to privatize the FAA to surface following the agency’s announcement on Sunday that due to sequester cuts of $637 million (out of its $16 billion budget), all 47,000 of its employees, including 15,000 air traffic controllers, were being furloughed. The resulting delays were especially noticeable at high-traffic centers like New York City, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Los Angeles. FAA Administrator Michael Hurta said his agency “could find no other way” to respond to the mandated cuts but to inflict maximum pain on travelers dependent upon schedules and efficiency.  The New American

 

News

NJ: NJ lottery deal needs closer scrutiny — fast: Opinion There has been less than two weeks to protest and scrutinize the plan and there is plenty to protest and scrutinize. The bidding process produced one sole bidder — Northstar New Jersey — which will receive a 15-year contract with the state if all goes according to the administration’s wishes. The lottery is New Jersey’s fourth-largest source of revenue and generates millions annually for education and senior programs, yet we are entrusting it to a company that oversaw a decrease in revenue when it took over the lottery in Illinois. The Star-Ledger

PA: Ad targets lawmaker from Bucks on Pa. liquor privatization plan. A group lobbying for a swift end to the Pennsylvania liquor store system has launched a television ad focusing on a Republican state senator who will be instrumental in getting a privatization bill to the governor’s desk. The ad launched by the conservative group Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania comes a week before a Senate hearing on liquor privatization. Newsworks.org

PA: If Pennsylvania privatizes alcohol, will drinking increase? In 2011, the Community Preventive Services Task Force, an independent group appointed by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, recommended against privatization “based on strong evidence that privatization results in increased per-capita alcohol consumption.”….”The common theme here is that if alcohol is more available, people tend to drink more,” said Robert Brewer, who leads the alcohol program in the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion at the CDC. “So then the question is, where does privatization fit into that?”  Philly.com

Stealing the Heart of a National Park: Oyster Company’s Alliance With Big Oil. Recent developments demonstrate how deeply involved the company is in the larger political agenda aimed squarely at opening up our most treasured landscapes to inappropriate commercial uses. Over the past two months, the plot has thickened considerably, with the oyster company teaming up with Big Oil interests and anyone else who could benefit from its precedent-setting land-grab effort.  Huffington Post

Mica wants to privatize airport security screeners. Central Florida Rep. John Mica is once again calling for a change in airport security, including dismantling the Transportation Security Administration. WESH.com

2013: The Year of Public-Private Partnerships. More than 30 states have enacted legislation encouraging PPPs so far. In addition, former Governors Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania and Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, along with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, formed the Building America’s Future Educational Fund – a Rockefeller Foundation-funded group dedicated to rebuilding infrastructure via alternative methods that include PPPs. Huffington Post

News

IL: Parking Deal a Windfall for Private Company. It costs a lot to park in Chicago. Of that there is no denial. The private company that oversees on street parking in Chicago has seen revenue increase by 368 percent since 2008. That was the year the Daley administration pushed through a controversial plan to relinquish the city’s hold over 36,000 parking meters in exchange for a $1.2 billion payout. In 2008, the last year the city collected parking meter revenue, it totaled $23.3 million. In 2011, the last year figures were available, Chicago Parking Meters, LLC took in $109.3 million, according to figures released through a Freedom of Information Act request. NBC Chicago

PA: City hires 2 firms to seek PGW bids. The city has retained the banking giant JPMorgan Chase & Co. as lead broker to sell Philadelphia Gas Works, the latest move in the Nutter administration’s effort to privatize the utility. The bankers could earn more than $12 million in fees if they are able to fetch the $1.85 billion that the city’s financial advisers last year estimated to be the high end of the utility’s value. The brokers will work on a commission-only basis. Nutter has pushed forward to explore a sale over the objections of PGW’s union, the city’s public advocate, and some City Council members. The mayor has said he would sell PGW only if the price were right. Philly.com

PA: Hearings set on bill to privatize liquor stores. The first of what will likely be three state Senate hearings on a controversial bill to privatize Pennsylvania’s government-run wine and liquor stores has been scheduled for next Tuesday in the Capitol – and it is bound to be telling. That the bill has few ardent fans in the Senate is no secret. Republicans who control the chamber have strongly signaled they are leaning toward modernizing, rather than privatizing, the State-Store system.  Philly.com

PA: If Pennsylvania privatizes alcohol, will drinking increase? It’s a simple, critical, and sobering question at the heart of the debate over privatizing state liquor stores: Will Pennsylvanians drink more booze if sales are wrested from government control? Advocates say liquor privatization would mean more convenience, better selection, and lower prices. But public-health experts say reducing the government’s role in alcohol sales comes with a potentially harmful downside – people buy more of the alcoholic beverage that is privatized. Philly.com

PA: Pennsylvania, nurses’ union argue over closures of state public health centers. Attorneys for the Commonwealth and a union representing public health nurses argued in court today over whether the state has the authority to close nearly half its state public health centers without the approval of the Legislature. The Service Employees International Union Healthcare Pennsylvania says a 1996 state law forbids the administration from closing such centers without the Legislature’s OK. But the state says the law in question applied to a previous effort to privatize the centers and the legislation shouldn’t be broadly construed to stop the Corbett administration’s plan in this case. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

NC: Asheville Docs on Gov McCrory’s Medicaid Privatization Plan: Shortsighted. At a meeting yesterday in Asheville, Governor McCrory’s DHHS Secretary Aldona Wos met with heavy skepticism from about 200 local providers and citizens who came to hear about the Governor’s plan to privatize Medicaid health services for the poor. The Progressive Pulse

PR: Airport Privatization Takes Off in Puerto Rico. The deal has come under withering criticism from many on the island. Numerous elected officials, lawyers and economists have denounced it as a bad bargain for Puerto Rico. Major protests roiled San Juan prior to the transfer two months ago. Puerto Ricans now worry that their publicly owned ports, highways and other public goods will be sold off, liquidating a century of public investments. Indeed, two highways have already been handed over to private investors prior to the airport’s transfer. Similar privatization agreements may soon arrive in Illinois and other states, where local leaders are considering selling airports under long-term lease agreements to private operators, most of them European, Australian and Latin America companies. Truth-Out

News

Targeting Municipal Distress. The Bayonne, New Jersey water and sewer utility is now a crown jewel in the infrastructure portfolio of private-equity firm KKR & Co. and a model for how United Water wants to privatize water systems across the U.S…. The Bayonne deal is an example of the financial engineering pitched to cities across the U.S. that are in a jam. For decades, Wall Street firms have seen municipal distress as an investment opportunity, getting behind everything from parking meters to airports. Experts say the deal making is accelerating as more cities have struggled with lower property-tax revenue and deepening debt and pension obligations since the housing bubble burst.  Wall Street Journal

PA: Is that legislative movement we see on liquor privatization? The first of what will likely be three Senate hearings on a controversial bill to privatize Pennsylvania’s government-run wine and liquor stores has been scheduled for Tuesday of next week (April 30) in the Capitol – and it is bound to be telling. It is no secret that the bill has few ardent fans in the Senate, where Republicans who control the chamber have strongly signaled they are leaning toward modernizing, rather than privatizing, the current state-store system. The hearings, before the Senate Law and Justice Committee, are bound to provide the first glimpse into just how hard it will be to move liquor privatization closer to the finish line.  Philly.com

FL Privatization fears, finger-pointing marked troubled home-confinement program. Two recently completed reviews of home confinement — one by the county, another by internal-affairs investigators — add up to more than 100 scathing pages of misconduct. Amid the finger-pointing in the reviews was an array of serious allegations, including that management pressured staff not to report defendants’ home-confinement violations. The pressure, lower-ranking staff said, was about numbers: “… we wanted our program to look strong… so that we wouldn’t possibly be … privatized,” field officer Kenya Cox said. Orlando Sentinel

NJ: New Jersey lottery workers protest privatization plan. Lottery employees at today’s rally – who all declined to give their names, saying they feared Northstar would punish them for speaking out – said they have not been told how the privatization will affect them or whether they will be able to keep their jobs.  NorthJersey.com

NJ: New Jersey Governor Imposes Red Light Camera Freeze. Chris Christie, New Jersey’s tough-talking Republican governor, has gone from red light camera proponent to active photo ticketing opponent in a matter of months. On Thursday, the state Department of Transportation (NJDOT) announced there will be no new red light cameras installed in the Garden State with the notice specifically mentioning it was the political decision of the “Christie Administration.”…Data from the first year of camera use show a spike in the number of injury-causing and severe accidents (view report). The results ran counter to the promise that photo ticketing reduces “more dangerous” angle collisions. Running a camera program without the state’s explicit approval can prove to be an expensive mistake. Earlier this year, American Traffic Solutions entered into a $4.2 million settlement for operating red light cameras before the legislature began the pilot project.  TheNewspaper.com

HI: Hospital privatization bill sidelined. Legislation that would have allowed privatization of eight Hawai`i and Maui County public hospitals facing financial struggles has been replaced in favor of a task force to again study a public-private partnership for Hawai`i Health Systems Corporation. KPUA