For decades, city and state governments have seen contracting as a cost-saving panacea. But past experience has left some of today's policymakers more skeptical.
By Molly Ball
The Atlantic - Apr 23 2014
A few years ago, Chicago residents accustomed to parking on the
street got a rude shock. Parking-meter rates had suddenly gone up as
much as fourfold. Some meters jammed and overflowed when they couldn't
hold enough change for the new prices. In other areas, new electronic
meters had been installed, but many of them didn't give receipts or
failed to work entirely. And free parking on Sundays was a thing of the
past.
The new meter regime sparked mass outrage. People held protests and
threatened to boycott. But there was little recourse: The city had
leased its 36,000 meters to a private Morgan Stanley-led consortium in
exchange for $1.2 billion in up-front revenue. The length of the lease:
75 years.
If the meter situation seemed like a bad deal for Chicago's parkers,
it would soon become clear that it was an even worse one for the city's
taxpayers.
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