Outsourced Cities, Brought to You by CH2M Hill

[Hestia]

Published on Wednesday, October 16, 2013 by PR Watch
Outsourced Cities, Brought to You by CH2M Hill
by Brendan Fischer and Seep Paliwal
When the town of Sandy Springs, Georgia, spun-off from Fulton County and established a brand new government, it didn't sign a Declaration of Independence; it signed a contract.


Sandy Springs, GA
The 100,000-person town entered into a five-year contract with the for-profit management company CH2M Hill to operate almost all of the town's services: running trash collection, and street cleaning, and wastewater management, and even security and administration for the courthouse. A for-profit company, rather than public officials and public employees, would be in charge of providing all "public" services except for fire and police departments. CH2M HILL employees, wearing Sandy Spring uniforms and driving trucks with Sandy Spring logos, even enforced municipal ordinances like grass-cutting and parking regulations.

Sandy Springs, an affluent suburb of Atlanta -- home to Herman Cain, professional sports players, and the woman who voiced Iphone's Siri -- had been fighting for years to spin-off from Fulton County, with many residents resentful that they were subsidizing services for poorer parts of the county. In 2005, after Republicans gained new majorities in both chambers of the Georgia legislature, Sandy Spring got its wish. The new town -- conceived by retired engineer Oliver Porter, a devotee of Austrian free-market economist Frederich Hayek -- had just a few months to set up a fully-functioning city government, and CH2M Hill stepped in, offering itself up as a one-stop-outsourcing-shop.

In the next two years, the newly-created communities of Johns Creek, Milton, and Chattahoochee Hills -- which, like Sandy Springs, were wealthy suburbs cutting themselves loose from less-affluent counties -- followed suit, signing contracts with CH2M Hill to establish fully outsourced cities.

more at link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/10/16-0
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Straight out of "The Shock Doctrine" by Naomi Klein. She stated in the book that this would become the new norm - 2 America's, one for the rich and the rest, well let's just say, let them eat cake.

[TheMastersNemesis]

1. Outsourcing Cities Should Be Illegal.

This kind of activity is outrageous. If they want to do that then ALL federal funds should be withdrawn from those communities. This bull is carrying gated communities to the extreme. Will they then gate the city so no one can pass who is not in the country club.

[Hestia]

3. I agree - make them pay a toll to leave their precious city. I think they should be absolutely

illegal too. Don't like it here - I'm sure Somalia would love to have you, after you fight off the War Lords first.

[haele]

2. I predict it will work out all great - until someone gets in a hissy with a richer neighbor.

Or Herman Cain (or some other billionaire) sets himself up as King, and decides to purchase dispensation to the HOA rules to get better bennies and a higher consideration from the company in legal issues.

"Hello, customer service? Number 204 over there on Pine Forest Lane - y'know, the one owned by that Hawks Basketball fellah who's only worth a few million? Yeaaahhh...I don't like the plants along his entrance and the color of his house is wrong. He also has too many of those hip-hop-rappy parties. He shouldn't have those big parties with outsiders driving around except on Friday or Saturday nights - and no parties on Sunday.
Sooo, why don't you just fine him a hundred thousand or so to fix the problem with his house and the loud party last night, and make sure anyone on that road has the right GPS code in their car during the week - or they get fined, too - okay?
Sure, I can pay the premium add-on for the service. Oh, you can't just add it to my bill? No problem, let me get that credit card..."

War of the Roses, anyone?

And of course, it's all fun and games until someone or several someones decide it's okay to stiff or threatens the mercenary force. Or one of the residents finds out being in richie-rich conservo-land isn't all it's set up to be and decides to pull up his or her share and move.

If the company owns the city, it doesn't matter who the "shareholders" are. All that matters is that the company gets paid.

Haele