Quote Originally Posted by mwilbert View Post
You really can't just hear the word "outsource" and know whether it will be cheaper/better or not. Outsourcing is like anything else; it needs to be managed. If you have lousy management, you will probably sign a lousy contract with the outsourcer. If you can't manage the contract once it is signed, you will probably get lousy service. Of course if you can't manage your employees, you will also get lousy service.

We know there are some things that the city should stop doing because they are really bad at them, like generating and distributing electricity. We know this because there are other people doing it and we can easily compare the costs and the quality of the services. But that is a particularly easy case--most city services are not as well-defined nor do they have as well-established metrics. The less clear-cut, the less likely you will be able to outsource successfully, particularly without competent management.
Very good points.

Given however that there are thousands upon thousands of cities in the US and worldwide -- I think good management would find well-established metrics for just about anything. I do grant you that Detroit would be a tough case -- given its immense size and near total disinvestment.

The problem is that Detroit's leadership hasn't fostered good management. When Detroit switched to a 'strong mayor' government in 1974 [[yes?) it also elected a 'strong mayor' in Coleman A. Young. He was much more interested in issues of control and power than he was in maintaining the existing, mostly white bureaucracy. I do understand why CAY acted as he did -- but the end effect was to toss aside years of tremendous competence in favor of political allegiances. [[And let's not even get started on KK's beyond saying that he had a distorted sense of what skills were most useful on the job.)

We are now paying the price for years of mismanagement.

It will take decades.

That's why I think its best to start over.