Portside

We do not accept New York City and State officials’ cruel response to asylum seekers, scapegoating new arrivals to defund public goods for everyone. Mayor Eric Adams announced a city hiring freeze, cuts of 15% for all New York City public agencies.

Charter schools don’t improve education outcomes. But they do funnel taxpayer money into the pockets of unscrupulous — often criminal — school operators. It’s a national disgrace that needs to end.

Postal services should be expanded for the public good, not diminished by special interests

Reader Comments: Memories of the Southern Freedom Movement - Mary Hamilton; The Right to Water - Trump Action Endangers Millions; Keeping Public Services Public; Fight for Health Care Access Continues; Sen. Gillibrand Takes Name Off Anti-Boycott Bill; The Crisis in Venezuela - U.S. Involvement, and The Left; Hate Speech; Questions about Israel and the U.S.; CEO Pay; Palestinian Rights curriculum; An American in China; Dissident Arts Festival; Next Up for Single Payer

The US has a lot to learn from people powered movements, cities across Europe are increasingly deciding to reclaim public services, spearheading a growing movement for "remunicipalization," meaning the return of public services from private to public.

The public Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority's bus costs are out of control, according to the ALEC-affiliated Pioneer Institute's 2013 report on the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority's (MBTA) bus maintenance costs.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett's administration has decided to sign a 40-year contract to privatize the state's crumbling bridges, but there has been little to no media coverage of the deal and what it will mean for two generations of Pennsylvanians.

We need to own up to is that privatization experiments, based on ideology rather than evidence, have created disruption, neglect, and harm to vital public services and infrastructure - and those effects have undermined the private sector which depends on high quality public services. We seem to have forgotten that the public sector has long created the environment and resources necessary for businesses to prosper.

We will, no doubt, be needing roads - urban, local and interstate - for the foreseeable future, despite their negative effects. The good news is that we are now heading toward a transportation ecosystem that is far more varied and useful. Rather than encouraging more cars, more trucks, more pollution, less interpersonal connection and more privatized space, people throughout the country are radically changing travel and interpersonal connection.