20 Cooper Square, 5th Floor
Last week, President Barack Obama asked the members of his President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board (PERAB) this question:
"Obviously we're entering into an era of greater fiscal restraint as we move out of deep recession into a recovery. And the question I've had is people still got a lot of capital on the sidelines there that are looking for a good return. Is there a way to channel that private capital into partnering with the public sector to get some of this infrastructure built?"
The New York State Commission on State Asset Maximization has been asking just this question, as have cities and states across the country. Over the last five years, Chicago has been the most aggressive city in the country in pursuing private investment in its public works. The main purpose of the event is to discuss what lessons New York and New Jersey might learn -- both good and cautionary -- from the Midwest deals.
These Chicago deals have succeeded in raising large amounts of investment for public works in difficult financial times. However, projects have heavily depended upon using the tax code to unlock financial value in existing assets which has also been accompanied by an increased private sector role in design, management and operation. Charles Phillips Jr., President of Oracle and Member of PERAB, offered guarded words about these Chicago-style deals in response to the President's question about how to partner with the private sector to build infrastructure, saying that they were 'probably not a good thing' and that focus should instead be on using private investment more productively in order to improve and expand infrastructure.
As New York and New Jersey use private investment to build new schools, pursue green energy projects and promote economic growth, the Chicago experience, as vividly described within a new US Public Interest Research Group report, offers lessons in how transparency, citizen participation and attention to contractual details can increase benefits and lessen risks.
Download the US PIRG report here:
Privatization and the Public Interest: The Need for Transparency and Accountability in Chicago's Public Asset Lease Deals (10/7/2009)
Chair and Moderator:
Michael Likosky, Institute for Public Knowledge Senior Fellow and member of the OECD Working Group on P3s
Panelists:
Samara Barend, Executive Director, New York State Commission on State Asset Maximization
Kris Kolluri, Chief Executive Officer, New Jersey Schools Development Authority
Susan Rose-Ackerman, Henry R. Luce Professor Law and Jurisprudence, Yale Law School
Peter Rosenblum, Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein Clinical Professor of Human Rights Law & Director, Human Rights Institute, Columbia University Law School
Response by Report Authors:
Phineas Baxandall, Senior Analyst for Tax and Budgetary Policy, US Public Interest Research Group
Tony Dutzik, Senior Analyst, Frontier Group
This event is open to the public with photo ID.