Let’s jumpstart infrastructure projects with new public-private partnerships (2014, construction)

[arjay57]

A nice guest column in the Saporta Report by Charley Whatley. He suggests that we should look to what's happening in Toronto.

...[W]e did witness Toronto’s economic engine at full throttle. Toronto has 300 construction cranes in the sky and over 140 buildings of 30-stories or more under construction – right now.

Imagine a metro region of 5.6 million people with transit options connecting the city core to the suburbs by rail, bus, streetcar and roads. And imagine pedestrian-friendly and bike-friendly streets that connect job centers, higher education, sporting venues, arts and music districts, and retail and restaurants

Now imagine that 2.7 million of the citizens live in the urban core, and that political consolidation occurred among five cities to form a consolidated government.

That describes Toronto, perhaps the most dynamic city in North America. Toronto is now among the most densely populated and diverse cities anywhere. The city’s core is growing by 100,000 people a year, and the province is gaining more than 100,000 new Canadians annually through the country’s enlightened immigration policy.

See more at: Let’s jumpstart infrastructure projects with new public-private partnerships | SaportaReport

[Mishap]

^What piece of infrastructure would you like the region to sell to private investors? The reversible toll lanes on I-75 almost resulted in a non-compete clause that would have crippled the top end region for all other road development in order to guarantee profits to the developer.

Honestly I don't trust our officials to do any of this responsibly (they're very terrible negotiators) and quite often we find ourselves giving away the farm (see Cobb Braves deal) for the chance of a photo-op in the name of "jobs".