With bankruptcy looming, buzzards are flying by to pick meat off the Motor City’s bones. Before they do, someone should talk to experts on the dangers of privatization:
Contact: Richard Allen Smith
July 23, 2013 rasmith@inthepublicinterest.org
**** MEDIA AVAILABILITY****
As Detroit Contemplates a “Fire Sale” of its Assets, Privatization Experts are Available to Discuss the Dangers of Selling Public Assets and Services
Washington, DC – As the City of Detroit faces an $18 billion Chapter 9 bankruptcy, there has been much discussion of a “fire sale” of public assets and services to private interests as a way to inject quick cash into the city’s budget. Across the country, for-profit corporations seek to capitalize on the misfortune of cash-strapped cities like Detroit, but in nearly all cases, the outsourcing of public services has resulted in a loss of public control over quality of life issues, reduced jobs and benefits for public employees, greater cost to taxpayers and a lower quality rendered service.
As Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr and various judges weigh in on what comes next, experts on privatization and responsible contracting are available to discuss the consequences of outsourcing, and what may be next for the City of Detroit.
Donald Cohen is the founder and executive director of In the Public Interest, a national resource center on privatization and responsible contracting. Donald is a founding board member of the Partnership for Working Families, a national federation of metropolitan-based research, policy and action centers. He is on the board of Green For All, the Ballot Initiatives Strategy Center, and the Center for Effective Government. Donald has recently published opinion pieces about privatization issues in Reuters and Huffington Post.
Shar Habibi is the Research and Policy Director of In the Public Interest, a national resource center on privatization and responsible contracting. She previously worked on issues related to state government contracting at a policy and research organization in Texas, where she focused on the privatization of social services. Before that, she worked for a government procurement consulting firm. She received a Masters in Public Affairs and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Texas at Austin.
To schedule interviews with them, please contact Richard Allen Smith at rasmith@inthepublicinterest.org or (202) 327-8435.
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Diane Ravitch's blog 
“With bankruptcy looming, buzzards are flying by to pick meat off the Motor City’s bones.”
Other considerations:
In the aftermath of the Detroit chapter 9 bankruptcy application, the city council of Hamtramck, Michigan which is in the middle of Detroit but politically and financially independent, has proposed to construct a 12-foot wall to “protect the city” and only allow people with proper state-issued ID access.
This is not the first time that the Detroit area has considered a type of American apartheid using walls as the video below demonstrates:
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I wish that dream would have been guided by our first biracial president. Where is he?
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Staying on his “white” side of the wall!
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And that comment comes from a USDA certified grade AA white cracker! (they wanted to label me grade B but I filled a few of the proper pockets and got them to consent to AA-you know “bullshit talks but money walks sort of thing”.)
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Wow, what a compelling piece. Will pass it along.
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Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Texas Education.
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