Page 16 RAIN February/March 1983 bidding process for dealing with such mainline public services in an attempt to answer the widespread cry for less government or at least a more responsive and efficient one. Some of this new attitude is being formed from Reagan's new urban policy which focuses attention on new community partnerships. These are arrangements between local government, private corporations and the nonprofit sector for carrying out services which, in recent years, have been carried out by local government with tremendous support from federal taxes. The new partnerships stand to make some players in the community more wealthy, including private corporations who would like to prove they can be more efficient in carrying out government services than the government. Neighborhood and community based organizations may also profit from this new arrangement. The Bronx-Frontier Association in New York is contracted with the city of New York to clear up vacant lots. They clear up the debris, add four inches of topsoil, and strew a mix of wild flower seeds on the lot. The delivery of public services by neighborhood and community based organizations isn't new. Over the last twenty years, some of the organizations have evolved from simple voluntary organizations that provided platforms for citizens to voice their opinions to more complex organizations capable of administrating programs and services. Especially through federal housing, economic opportunity, block grant and CETA programs, the groups have played an important role in administrating federal money in communities. The difference is that up until now, most of the money has been earmarked for special development programs, and not for mainline public services. The Bronx Frontier Association in New York has had years of experience in advising community groups about the creation of gardens and small parks. In the spring of 1982 they entered into an agreement with the Planning and General Services Department of the City of New York for the treatment of vacant lots. Bronx-Frontier is clearing the lots of debris, adding four inches of topsoil, and strewing a mix of wild flower seeds on the lots. The group is doing the work at 32 cents per square foot which represents a sizable savings for the city government. The Mexican-American Unity Council in San Antonio, Texas, has won bridge maintenance and repair contracts, building contracts, and other civil engineering contracts. In Kansas City and several other communities, neighborhood groups have won contracts to perform building- code inspection. For years the City of Jacksonville, Florida, primarily because of its physical size (700 square miles), has contracted out services to designated groups in the immediate service areas. Recently, the city's Department of Community Development has worked to transfer the management of social services to neighborhood-based, multi-service centers. It is negotiating with the Ocean Way Improvement Council and the Robinsons Additional Improvement Association to manage and operate two such centers which provide senior citizen, nutrition, recreation and other program services that currently are financed through federal grants. Organizations that have worked primarily in the areas of housing or commercial development are moving into social service contracts that are related to, but expand their work. The Burnside Consortium, in Portland, Oregon, won a $1.07 million contract from Multnomah County to run an alcohol detoxification clinic. Sometimes the municipal government and citizens, or citizens represented by neighborhood organizations, may in effect negotiate what kinds of services are to be done. The City of Baltimore's Sparkle Program operates in this way. For example, the Mayfield Community Organization wanted to clear a stream in a local park, so they wrote an agreement with the city. Under the agreement the citizens cleaned up the stream, and the city provided a truck for hauling away the trash. The new community partnerships are not without problems. There have already been anti-trust actions, based on restraint of trade that can arise when particular groups are matter-of-factly given contracts. Government employee unions are, of course, not always pleased. The new partnerships can mean loss of public employees, and/or new work conditions that do not include all the previous benefits. Then there are a variety of legal problems. Who is liable, for example, when sidewalk repair carried out by a neighborhood association under contract from the city results in an accident? The groups themselves pose another question. While many neighborhood and community based organizations have become sophisticated, many are still primarily small-staffed and/or voluntary associations. In order to carry out on-going public services they need to have increased management ability. However, with all the difficulties that may arise, the new partnerships have many positive aspects. They can reduce city costs in many ways, cutting the number of salaried, pension-entitled, civil service workers. They can spread out a community's employment potential to include people who might not otherwise be employed under the normal civil service rules. The new relationship between the city and neighborhood or community based organizations can reduce the "Them" and "Us" feeling, and citizens themselves can have a more direct say-so over how their money is spent. □□
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