1) We have just witnessed the best of what can occur through a public/private partnership with the work on the Big Fix and the incredibly short time (35 days) it took to get a major freeway fix completed with an idea from the private partner, that would have taken about 2 years done through the normal public route; and as this editorial notes, all parties to this wonderful work should take a big bow, for a job well done.
An excerpt.
“The primary credit goes to C.C. Myers, the Rancho Cordova-based contractor who has become legendary for getting things done faster than anyone else could. He came up with the idea of shutting one side of the freeway, then the other, to speed repair work. He promised to get it done with 32 days of one-way lane closures. It took 35 days. High temperatures forced workers to delay paving work until evening hours.”
“Myers can't do what he does without the cooperation of government. Officials at Caltrans who worked with Myers to set the timetables and approve the closure of the state's major north- south artery took a risk. It paid off. It may set a precedent for future highway projects.”
2) A public/private partnership is what we would like to see in terms of managing the Parkway and our idea for this is to establish a nonprofit organization to contract with a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) of local government entities, to manage the Parkway and provide a supplemental fund raising capability through philanthropy, which you can read more about on our website’s news page in our press release from January 18, 2008.
This is the model being used by the Central Park Conservancy to manage Central Park in New York—and the Conservancy generates 85% of funding needed by Central Park—and the Sacramento Zoological Society to manage the Sacramento Zoo, which they have wholly done since 1997 under contract with the City of Sacramento.
