A couple of weeks ago, I attended a Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee meeting, to see the presentation on our Solid Waste Programs. We had already made a presentation about a month before, but the Council had some concerns about them, so the leaders altered the programs. It was great to see some of the work I had done had contributed to the presentation, and the subcommittee recommended our programs.
I found the presentation before ours very interesting; it actually got to the crux of the challenges of public service. The presentation was about proposed changes in bus routes, to be more efficient and save money. It was clearly extremely well researched and had included stakeholder meetings and extensive cost-benefit analysis. The presentation was very detailed down to the bus routes that were going to be changed.
One bus route was proposed to be changed from every 15 minutes to every 30 minutes. A citizen, who rides the bus route, spoke against this proposed change on behalf of his community. Many of the riders have no alternate form of transportation, and there is no bus shelter for the stop. Council members were concerned for the residents, but the administrators from transportation said that just that one route change would save the City $80,000. Even to compromise at every 20 minutes, the City still would not be able to save the $80,000.
This is why it is difficult to run government like a business. If the City were a business, they would most likely easily choose their bottom line and save the $80,000. But council members and administrators have to be concerned about their constituents, especially the most vulnerable citizens from low-income areas who rely on public transportation.
The subcommittee voted to recommend all of the changes except for that one route. They could not sacrifice the well-being of the constituents for the large savings.
We have observed a city council meeting when a bus route was on the agenda to be completely cut. Only one citizen came to speak against it, but it was the only way she could get to work everyday. It's such a big deal to carefully weigh the costs and benefits of things like public transportation. You are right, it's not a business, there are people involved that rely on those services!
ReplyDeleteI think you make a great point about the challenges of running government like a business! Many people who are critical of government, claim that it should be run more like a business. Although this is a nice thought, in my opinion, this sentiment ignores some of the crucial functions of government. Citizens rely on government to provide vital services, which often do not achieve full or partial cost recovery. A business that could not recover its costs would fail; however, local government is in the 'business' of providing services that the private sector will not, cannot, or should not be offering. Ultimately, both entities can benefit from sharing practices, but they still have differing overall objectives, which prevents them from operating in an identical manner.
ReplyDeleteAhhh this was so wonderful to read! I am very glad that the government isn't run like a business! The citizens are the ones that the governments rely on and I'm really glad that they realize that the citizens matter and that they can't just do whatever they want even if it saves them money. People over money. I love it.
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