Don't Retreat, Rethink.
22/2/11 09:52![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png)
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The drama of urban snow removal has preoccupied this newspaper for 150 years. In 1910, The Times wrote about no-show contractors failing to get men and wagons onto the streets after a storm that buried New York City and snarled the Long Island Rail Road. In 2010, we — and pretty much everyone in the city — criticized a no-show mayor who left town before a storm that buried the city and snarled the Long Island Rail Road.
So we were intrigued by a report that Quincy, Mass., has found a way to get rid of snow more efficiently and more cheaply. Last year, it decided to pay contractors not by the hour but by the inch to remove snow in about one-fourth of the city. A storm of up to 2 inches cost $8,455 per ward, rising as the drifts got deeper, up to $42,500 per ward for storms of 14 inches to 18 inches. Above that, the rate fell sharply. This means companies take a gamble when bidding on a contract, and Quincy is unlikely to be bankrupted by a monster storm.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/opinion/22tue4.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha211
This is the sort of thinking we need. Keeping the roads clear is absolutely a responsibility of government, albeit often one contracted out to private companies, and while in this case speed is of the greatest essence, it's not bad to save money either. This is good government, and privatizing it, especially this service in particular, doesn't seem like it would be any better.
Of course, if you read to the bottom of the link, everything old is new again.
So we were intrigued by a report that Quincy, Mass., has found a way to get rid of snow more efficiently and more cheaply. Last year, it decided to pay contractors not by the hour but by the inch to remove snow in about one-fourth of the city. A storm of up to 2 inches cost $8,455 per ward, rising as the drifts got deeper, up to $42,500 per ward for storms of 14 inches to 18 inches. Above that, the rate fell sharply. This means companies take a gamble when bidding on a contract, and Quincy is unlikely to be bankrupted by a monster storm.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/opinion/22tue4.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha211
This is the sort of thinking we need. Keeping the roads clear is absolutely a responsibility of government, albeit often one contracted out to private companies, and while in this case speed is of the greatest essence, it's not bad to save money either. This is good government, and privatizing it, especially this service in particular, doesn't seem like it would be any better.
Of course, if you read to the bottom of the link, everything old is new again.
(no subject)
Date: 22/2/11 16:44 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 22/2/11 16:58 (UTC)Mayor Michael Bilandic was unseated by Jane Byrne in 1979 because of the snowstorms of 1979. Since then, snow removal has been a huge political issue in Chicago.
As a result, it is not unusual for Chicago to salt the streets for no apparent reason.
(no subject)
Date: 22/2/11 16:59 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 22/2/11 16:33 (UTC)I don't think I follow, if they're hiring the work out to contractors, aren't they privatizing it?
(no subject)
Date: 22/2/11 16:44 (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 22/2/11 22:30 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 22/2/11 16:55 (UTC)This is the same kind of situation with building construction. When a city needs to build a new city hall, they don't hire construction workers directly, they contract it out, and administer the process.
(no subject)
Date: 22/2/11 17:01 (UTC)Oh, I see, yes, there could be even more radical privatization but that would occur only in some radical Ayn Randian situation in which the government was no longer responsible for the roads, no? In a situation in which governments still build and maintain roads, what kind of scenario would be more privatized than this?
Does the city tell the contractors this? Why, wouldn't they just tell them how quickly they needed the work done?
(no subject)
Date: 22/2/11 17:04 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 22/2/11 17:10 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 22/2/11 17:08 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 22/2/11 17:45 (UTC)To put it another way, the government doesn't construct streets and bridges anymore. They contract the work out to private contracting organizations to do it on the government dime.
(no subject)
Date: 22/2/11 17:51 (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 22/2/11 17:59 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 22/2/11 18:06 (UTC)http://www.answers.com/topic/privatization: "...Services formerly provided by government may be contracted out ..."
(no subject)
Date: 22/2/11 19:43 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 22/2/11 20:43 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 22/2/11 22:00 (UTC)Just how common must this myth become before you'll accept that it constitutes parlance?
(no subject)
Date: 22/2/11 21:10 (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 23/2/11 01:18 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 23/2/11 06:29 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 22/2/11 21:05 (UTC)Only because they currently own the roads. It's the responsibility of the owner, regardless of who that is.
(no subject)
Date: 22/2/11 22:21 (UTC)(no subject)
(no subject)
Date: 22/2/11 22:01 (UTC)