Government
Can Private Advice Save A Threatened Public Realm?
Ruth Ford |
From schools to public housing to hospitals that serve the poor, private firms are being brought in to rescue remnants of an earlier, more ambitious era of government.
From schools to public housing to hospitals that serve the poor, private firms are being brought in to rescue remnants of an earlier, more ambitious era of government.
Many private firms’ projects in city schools have not been “disasters.” But that doesn’t mean these multimillion-dollar projects are the best way for a school system to spend its money.
Not only has city spending on outside contractors swelled in the past decade. The role of private firms in developing city policy has expanded. Have accountability and transparency kept pace?
In a time of growing concern over government ethics, the Conflict of Interest Board wants more investigative authority—but not more publicity. Much of its work is confidential.
The charges involve the misappropriation of $80 million, and revolve around a company whose questionable ties to a city official were first reported by City Limits.
An unfinished system to track city employees’ hours already costs 10 times what was budgeted. What now?
A 2005 survey found that keystroke monitoring was used by 36 percent of companies queried. Fifty-five percent of companies perused employee e-mail messages and 76 percent tracked websites visited by employees.
A Councilman calls for a moratorium on the city’s biometric timekeeping method.
As more agencies implement a controversial biometric system for city employees, new questions emerge about the costs, contractors and their ties to city government.
As a new record-keeping system for city employees is rolled out, some union members protest a 21st-century time clock.