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Forum nameOkay Activist Archives
Topic subjectRE: NYC Bridges, Tunnels, and Corporations
Topic URLhttp://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=22&topic_id=4955&mesg_id=5011
5011, RE: NYC Bridges, Tunnels, and Corporations
Posted by Abbstrack, Tue Apr-15-03 12:15 AM
>First, naming rights aren't used to finance maintenance. The
>money from naming rights is usually just icing on the cake.
>The bridges aren't going to fall into disrepair bc Best Buy
>goes into bankruptcy.
>

yeah..that idea was introduced in this post but not by me..thats a whole nother other can O worms that hopefully never gets opened...

>Secondly, Govt and industry getting in bed together isn't
>unheard of in urban development. Most of the following
>information comes from a biography of Robert Moses I've been
>reading. This man is almost singely responsible for the way
>NYC looks today. The book is "The Power Broker. Robert Moses
>and the Rise and Fall of New York"
>

of course its not new...but still no less inappropriate..

>Basically, many of the bridges, tunnels, highways and
>parkways in NYC were built by special corporations called
>public authorities. Basically, the city or state govt
>appoint the board of a new corporation whose specific goal
>was a particular improvement of the city or state
>infrastructure. The p.a. would sell bonds to banks to raise
>money to build the bridge, then the tolls from the bridges
>would be used to pay off those bonds. When the bonds were
>paid off, the p.a. would turn the structure over to the govt
>and the people.

this still sounds like a different schema than whats being discussed here, which is direct partnerships between corporations and government..the example you gave almost sounds like privitization, which is something im all for when it comes to things government should only be dealing with (urban planning, defense, etc...)
>
>The growth of NYC meant that tolls collected far exceeded
>projections and the improvemnts would be paid off in a
>fraction of the time expected. Toll bridges and tunnels in
>new york are MONEY MAKERS. Instead of turning the structures
>over, Moses worked the system so that he used revenue from
>existing structures was used to finance newer, more
>expensive structures.
>
>
>I think much of NYC's infrastructure is still owned and
>maintained by Public Authorities so I really doubt any money
>the city makes from naming rights will be earmarked for
>bridge or tunnel use.

right..it will be wasted in some other undisclosed way...if you want to increase revenue for the city, heres an idea, levy taxes on the corporations instead of becoming embedded with them...

but then you face the problem of the corporation up and leaving and moving to GREENer pastures...

still..i see this partnership as bad bad bad