CDOT to sell our roads without citizen approval.

[BPTactical]

It is called "Privatization" and it is something that as a former employee of CDOT we fought for years. The uninitiated think this is a way to save the state million in maintenance costs.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
It will cost state employees jobs and cost the taxpayers millions.
The deal for 36 is already a done deal, the contracts were signed last year. That is why you have construction from Boulder to Denver along its entire length.
Within 3 days of signing, ground was broken. The plans and projects were in place long before the contract was signed and quite a few were no bid contracts.
This has been tried before and failed in an epic fashion. Illinois tried it and ended up selling all of its facilities and equipment to contractors.
Levels of service went down, response times expanded.
It cost hundreds of millions there when Illinois had to buy back property and equipment.
I was part of a team assigned to write justification for keeping maintenance in the hands of state assets. We worked for 4 months and came up with a very lucid and compelling fact based presentation why maintenance of state highways needs to stay in the hands of state assets.
It never made it to the Transportation Commision.

[roberth]

It is called "Privatization" and it is something that as a former employee of CDOT we fought for years. The uninitiated think this is a way to save the state million in maintenance costs.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
It will cost state employees jobs and cost the taxpayers millions.
The deal for 36 is already a done deal, the contracts were signed last year. That is why you have construction from Boulder to Denver along its entire length.
Within 3 days of signing, ground was broken. The plans and projects were in place long before the contract was signed and quite a few were no bid contracts.
This has been tried before and failed in an epic fashion. Illinois tried it and ended up selling all of its facilities and equipment to contractors.
Levels of service went down, response times expanded.
It cost hundreds of millions there when Illinois had to buy back property and equipment.
I was part of a team assigned to write justification for keeping maintenance in the hands of state assets. We worked for 4 months and came up with a very lucid and compelling fact based presentation why maintenance of state highways needs to stay in the hands of state assets.
It never made it to the Transportation Commision.

Normally I want everything privatized. I want the government out of education, I want the government out of mortgage loans and the auto business. I want the government to stop income transfers from the middle class to the wealthy and the poor.

I'm thinking about the General Welfare clause in The Constitution. It appears to me that roads are part of the General Welfare which benefits each citizen, much like national defense or the judicial system.

Education is specific welfare which only benefits those with children and only for the duration of their child's education. The government's involvement in the auto industry only benefited the UAW which makes it specific welfare for a select group. Obamacare is specific welfare, it only benefits those who don't pay in or who are subsidized. Section 8 housing is specific welfare benefiting only those who qualify for it, same for WIC and EBT. When the government invests our tax money in companies like Solyndra and other scams that is specific welfare because All of the citizens didn't get a benefit, only the people running and working for Solyndra got anything.