Will public scrutiny end if private contractors take over various privatized roles around San Diego?
The voiceofsandiego's Rani Gupta writes that Mayor Jerry Sander's planned reforms "could curtail the public's access to records if private companies win the bidding."
As the city gets ready to cut $54 million from its budget, the mayor's plan of "managed competition" may begin to look more attractive to some critics. But Gupta reports in his piece that the level of scrutiny those companies make themselves open to would be determined in discussions between them and city officials prior to the formalizing of contracts.
The article also points out that the companies signing on would not be likely to be parties to the California Public Records Act. This would possibly preclude the opportunity to check for conflicts of interest of indications of exorbitant executive salaries.
Read the voiceofsandiego.org's "If City Services Go Private, So Could Access" for more details.
