Yesterday afternoon I was jogging through Malcolm X Park here in DC. The park is a wonderful example of neoclassical architecture with a fantastic layout reminiscent of a French palatial garden. Despite its wonderful layout, the place is a total dump.
On my jog through I counted four homeless people hanging out. In the past I’ve also seen sketchy guys looking for man on man sex, discarded drug paraphernalia, broken beer bottles and the occasional used condom. Not only that, the grass has been in the processes of being reseeded…for nine months. Much of the cement work is crumbling and the fountains are decrepit. In short, its in bad shape.
This illustrates a classic problem with public spaces: the tragedy of the commons. The tragedy of the commons is an economic phenomenon whereby everyone benefits from the use of the common space, but nobody has an incentive to take care of it, thus causing long term degradation. Often times, governments are supposed to manage common spaces. However in the case of DC’s parks the municipal government has historically not done a good job with the city’s greenspaces (1).
The more I think about it, the more it seems like the best solution is privatization. Since the park is a common resource it would seem sensible to turn it over to a particular individual or organization who will have an economic incentive to properly care for the park. While privatization is no panacea, in this case the model could work well. A private organization would be able to charge a modest admission, thus providing a basis for maintaining the park and keeping it free of crime and unsightly litter. Finally also the maintenance would likely generate modest job growth and admissions fees might provide some tax benefit. In short, with privatization, everybody wins.
If you want to think more about this, click here and here.
Best,
James
P.S. my wife Miel disagrees with me entirely on this point.
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