Atlanta this summer. In some days the American state may default on debt – everyday it’s in the news whether they will find a solution or not. And these are the news we have here in Germany, because we know that this will affect the global markets. Nevertheless in 2008 the US experienced a crisis – and many people lost their jobs. And some people try to make a living, and some cities start programs to offer a better access to economic possibilities. Let’s say, something is in the air. And than I read this, read carefully:
In 2009, the city of Atlanta awarded a contract for the management of all [!! my remarks] public property vending to G***** G*****, a multi-billion dollar shopping mall operator that owns C****, P*****, and N**** P**** malls to name a few. [read the full article here]
Okay, again: The management of ALL vending on public land was contracted to ONE single company – how could this decision taking place and how can the management still be regarded as public? How could the MANAGEMENT be outsourced? How could this be legitimate? This case makes me almost speechless as it illustrates in my eyes a significant change in public policy, the outsourcing of public duties to private companies. You could go further and ask – why do we live altogether and why do we need to communicate, discuss, argue and negotiate about different interests and that the duty of public administration is to mediate and not to have their profit interests in their – when the public administration is gone – somewhere outsourced to private companies. This is not just absurd, and this is not a joke, this is happening and this is very unjust.
And I am commenting here only about the latest developments taking place in Atlanta – and not about the tremendous and difficult regulations towards street vending. I’m grateful that the Institute of Justice is taking legal action on behalf of the vendors in Atlanta and that they provide a report on the various urban regulation in US cities too. See here, it is possible to download the report: “Streets of Dreams: How Cities Can Create Economic Opportunity by Knocking Down Protectionist Barriers to Street Vending” – what a great source! click here for further information and to download the report.
But – this is not enough, we lazy people who like to watch videos have the possibility to watch this informative video:
http://www.mrctv.org/embed/104081
i cross my fingers that the city of Atlanta will take back this contract, immediately!
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