Boos to the OD for missing the point in today's editorial "Privatization right course for airport" which can be interpreted as urging the legislature to approve the pending contract involving a Million Air franchisee.
No one disputes that privatization is a way of bringing expertise to a County where lack thereof is obvious.
But, as Ross Perot used to say, "The devil is in the details" and, unfortunately, there appear to be too few of them spelled out.
Questions have been asked, and satisfactory answers not received. The legislature needs to do more work before approving this proposal.
2 comments:
Ditto Strike . . . Thank you.
This is like a bad rerun of a poor sitcom. The county only advertized the airport RFP in one publication. Freeman holding LLC can fold up and go bankrupt in a New York minute and leave the taxpayers of Oneida County holding the bag. Freeman’s track record, in terms of their behavior in Plattsburg, should act as a barometer as to the character on how they address their “self defined” adverse business conditions here. They will not have to produce any business performance bond. They will not have to produce a business/county owned asset inventory. And now, some County Legislators are defending this practice as being good for the taxpayers.
Look . . . we all fully understand that government was designed to manage public administration dealings that are not feasible or profitable for the private sector to provide. This is why I always scoff at any prospective politician who boasts of their private business experience as preferable for public office. In a capitalist society private business is profit based. Public business is not, and never should be, profit based. The Oneida County airport may never produce a profit that would be acceptable for private sector profitability. However privatizing some operations of the airport may be the only way to depoliticize the unnecessary operations by paring down some “patronage” laden jobs and contracts that the politicians may never be able to politically accomplish. Oh yes, of course the present eleven Oneida county employees who now work at the FBO will retain their jobs.
Yes it may cost us dollars to save some dollars. But for goodness sake, do it right! At least advertize this airport privatization RFP as if you are genuinely serious about saving taxpayer money. The great Yogi Berra would dub this fiasco as Oneida county political business as usual . . . “déjà vu all over again.”
G&B -- There are 2 sides to every story. I do not know what happened in Plattsburgh and I was unable to locate any information in their newspaper. All I know is what was stated during "First Look" the other day, that the vendor left Plattsburgh. The interesting aspect of that is that the local authorities there did NOT sue for a breach, suggesting that the local authorities may have been in the wrong. I don't think it matters who did what to whom except that there obviously was a misunderstanding that undid the deal . . . which underlines the importance of both sides giving "due diligence" and putting EVERYTHING in writing that is of importance to them.
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