New right-wing wet dream: Cities run by corporations (no elections!)

[LuckyTheDog]

A Hillsdale College prof proposes making Detroit the test case for un-elected, for-profit municipal governments:

Suppose that portions of Detroit were simply sold to private developers to create private cities. This would require new statute, but imagine the possibilities. ACME Development Company might purchase 640 acres and build residences, both single family homes and multi-family. It would provide police and fire protection, roads and other infrastructure. There would be no property or income taxes, but residents would pay a fee much like condominium owners do now.

Schools would be charter schools and private schools. The developer would either build the school buildings and sell or lease them to the schools, or would lay out the city so schools would purchase land and build the schools themselves.

We cannot know the details of what such a development would look like, but I could not have known 30 years ago that my phone would be at my side all the time, take video, play music and surf the web.

The market would create incentive for innovations to occur in all sorts of areas of urban living, including what public services will be delivered and how they would be delivered. Detroit has reached the stage where it is time to do something drastically different. An experiment in allowing the market economy to produce housing and residential services would offer opportunities beyond our imagination.

More here: http://blogs.detroitnews.com/politics/2013/06/21/privatize-detroit/

[liberal N proud]

1. They would privatize the air we breathe if they could

Someone always has to make money in the eyes of the right wing!

[tomg]

3. If you listen to the CEO of Nestles

they are already working on privatizing the world's water supply. Check it out if you haven't seen it. It is one very frightening video. Cities run by corporations - that was the premise of the original Rollerball with James Caan and John Houseman.

[undergroundpanther]

7. Canned air it would be funny if it wasen't true.

People have been trained to buy bottle water,forget the taps. Get a damn steel bottle and fill it up at home!
Anyone dumb enough to spend more bucks for tap water from another state and use it as if it is'pure' and toss more pcb's in the public aqifers is water privatization ready.
What happened to water fountains? free water accessable to anyone ,hell you could fill your bottle up again for free when water fountains existed.
This bottled water thing besides a few practical times you would need a container of water,has gotten people accustomed to buying water bit by bit,and there isnt any reason for it,except a way to get US used to a control pay by the ounce water supply to bring people under control.

Harp on about how nasty tap water is ,get people scared,let the public infrastucture to purify water go to shit.. bingo...the same pigs making the mess make money selling us water we hope is safe,ever wonder why pollution is unchecked? because you can't drink polluted water. eventually all that shit will taint the taps.It is so they can filter it when the taps go to hell because of fracking and SELL you the water bit by bit and BUY all the sources of water so you either do as yer told or die in a few days.TPP probably has this shit covered.

this is psychopathy.

[baldguy]

2. .

[hobbit709]

4. truth is always stranger than fiction.

[undergroundpanther]

5. This is so fucking disgusting

I am lost for words. But FUCK PRIVATIZATION,Fuck the 1% and wall street banker pieces of shit.

[RedCappedBandit]

6. People complain about taxes now...

It would only be worse when the tax collectors main motive is purely profit.

[Locrian]

8. free market bullshit again

The market would create incentive for innovations to occur in all sorts of areas of urban living, including what public services will be delivered and how they would be delivered.

Yes it would - the incentive being to make money. NOT improve or deliver quality of living to anyone.

FFS - will people ever learn that the 'free market' doesn't mean anything except that whatever makes a $$ = good? NOTHING else matters, not you, health, not security, not freedom, not life, not art, not love, nothing. JUST $$$$.

[sibelian]

9. Well, that's going to be a fuck up.

[DetlefK]

10. What will happen when a company controls wages AND prices?

"... cause I owe my soul to the company store."

[Lurker Deluxe]

11. Well.

First things first. This is a terrible idea for a large urban city. That being said.

The key to anything running well is participation. The condo comparison is a great example. I live in a very nice condominium complex in the Champions area of North Houston. It was built in the late 80's, but you would not be able to tell from the condition of the grounds. There are a few factors that keep this place the way it is.

1: Owner occupied. The complex is 85% owner occupied, and owners tend to take better care of their property than do renters. Any and all rental leases must be approved by the manager of the complex, and the manager of the complex has the right to revoke a lease if the renter of the unit does not comply with the rules of the community. And those rules are strict.

2: Participation. There are monthly meetings with the board and manager, and these meetings are well documented. Any major changes have to be put to a vote of the owners. The end of last year we voted to raise our maintenance fee to justify certain repairs to the facility, a new hot sauna and a remodel of the hot tub room and showers at the pool. This vote was almost unanimous in favor with over 80% participation.

3: Transparency. I know where my money goes. All of it. There are no accounting tricks, no hidden costs, and money does not disappear from the coffer. We maintain a balance of 350K+ on our general funds for emergency repairs, such as a thunderstorm knocking down some trees, or a drunk hitting the fencing ... getting these items repaired without using the insurance and raising premiums.

4: Open elections. Every two years there are elections for the positions (unpaid) on the board of directors. The last time no one even contested the president, she has just done a wonderful job. We had to replace one of the other members as he stepped down after doing two terms (4 years). The Board is then responsible for hiring the manager, and the manager is responsible for hiring the maintenance crew (we have 3 full time people who receive benefits and reasonable pay).

When I was shopping for a place here all of these things, and a few others, helped me make my decision on where to buy. And now that I have invested my money I will participate to make sure that my investment gains in value by making sure that these things stay the way they are. I know others who live in condos and are hit by special assessments that have been in the thousands of dollars. When I have talked to them about their board and manager they replied that they never get involved and "don't even know who the board members are". There you have it, you get what you deserve.

Our government is much the same way. The participation of the electorate is very low. The education on the issues is clouded by lairs and cheats who promise to resolve the issues facing the community and once elected simply use the position of power to line their own pockets and bankrupt the community. Constantly calling for increased revenues without clear indications of where the current revenues are being spent.

So, well I am certainly not in favor of a city as large as Detroit being "privatized" I can understand how this thought can creep into someone's brain. The management of many municipalities across the nation are corrupt, and these "scheming demons dressed in kingly guise" are robbing us blind.

[HereSince1628]

12. Generations of Americans have been 'shareholders' in the commonwealth.

Now the Bane business model of piratization

Descent into feudalism requires the commonwealth to become private wealth.

Theft of our share is and has been part of the business plan. People laughed when I reminded them that Scott Walker wanted to privatize the Milwaukee Airport and the Milwaukee Parks--particularly the golf courses and swimming pools.

In this morning's Milwaukee paper we learn that Walker's new budget establishes his power to sell highways, roads, university buildings

Half the people in the state will object, but the state is putting in place a concept to deal with that...authorizing BOUNTY HUNTERS.

Really. I wish I was kidding.

[Lurker Deluxe]

14. Very true

Share of the commonwealth is the corner stone of the American town, or city.

What happens when that share is abandoned because the cost of owning it becomes higher than the worth of the share?

You walk away.

Detroit is a prime example. There are parts of Detroit that are damn close to being lawless. Crime is simply out of control, one would be a fool to attempt to open a small business in these areas. They would be either protection racketed to death, or vandalized and robbed of anything of value.

What else is there to do? The population continues to shrink and the costs continue to escalate, forcing the commonwealth to raise taxes and fees, which forces more of the population to flee ...

Is it all the fault of corporate greed? The draconian drug laws, the police brutality, the corrupt city government?

Like I said, I am not even close to in favor of privatizing an entire city, but I can surely see why alot of people would put thought to it.

[Octafish]

13. Hillsdale, where they worship trickle-down and Margaret Thatcher...

...and work to perfect the formula for fascism.

Detroit, and sooner rather than later for the rest of America's communites, is a trial run.

Thanks for the heads-up, LuckyTheDog!

[Javaman]

15. Corporate Overlord...

CO: it's come to our attention that we as a city are running a deficit. That is not good. So as a cost cutting measure, we degree that 30% of all the people in this city are no longer humans. Please drop your soul off at the door. Thank you for shopping at Mega Consumer Corporations.

[MineralMan]

16. Shades of Tennessee Ernie Ford:

"I owe my soul to the company store..."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixteen_Tons

[Dash87]

17. So, he's arguing for Fascism outright?

[WovenGems]

18. The Detroit News

Is not taken to be real news paper here. Sorry.