I’ve been following the hilariously tragic tale of the Governor’s efforts to privatize our parks, which appears to be failing because we take such terrible care of our parks that no one wants the hassle of taking them over. I almost feel a little bad for Governor Haslam here, because he’s right: if we’re not going to prioritize taking care of our parks, perhaps we should turn them over to someone who can, but, ha ha, no! As a state, we’re like the people who try to give their used underwear to Goodwill. No one wants to pay for our shit.
KSL has the scoop from Erik Schelzig of the Associated Press:
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation earlier this month requested $55 million to upgrade facilities at parks before operations could be handed over to private vendors. But at least one of the three companies that had expressed interest in a bid dropped out over uncertainty about whether lawmakers would approve the money.
There’s also the little problem of people not really wanting the parks privatized, because they’d rather folks not lose their jobs. Ron Ramsey has a rather interesting response to this in the same article:
“Obviously we as senators are going to hear from that squeaky wheel, the 10 people who work at the golf course — who may be hired back,” the Senate speaker said. “That’s who we hear from. But 6.5 million in Tennessee say ‘Thank you’ for doing that.’
This is hilarious. (continue reading at NashvilleScene)