The Tale of the Three Little P’s (Public-Private Partnerships)

I first stepped into the world of public-private partnerships twenty years ago at the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, where we were busy experimenting with various different models of working with the private sector. Public-private partnerships are nothing new; just think of the government-backed Dutch East India Company, the first formally listed public company, but they continue to be an area of rich experimentation for governments to find novel solutions to advance the public interest.

Some of the partnerships for NYC Parks worked out well, like the agreement between the City and the Central Park Conservancy to manage Central Park. You can easily argue that the partnership saved the crown jewel of city, and it is a model governments still try to replicate all over the world to this day. 

Other partnerships turned into spectacular failures and never-ending sagas. My go to example is the Ferry Point Park golf course in the Bronx. The City decided to turn an old garbage dump into a world-class golf course, in part because golf courses required a lower level of environmental remediation than other proposed uses. 

As part of its shift towards more privatization, the City had turned over management of its golf courses to various private companies, a move that improved upkeep and turned the annual money-losers into profitable ventures. The City took a similar approach to developing Ferry Point, but it didn’t quite turn out the way anyone had hoped. A 2005 Daily News report referred to the project as, “a boondoggle in the Bronx but a potential gold mine for the mob.” 

By the time I became involved, the contract had resulted in “little more than dirt and rubble in the shadow of the Whitestone Bridge.” We sought out another company to come take over the project and got zero takers. I had to work with City procurement officials, lawyers, and major golf course developers to come up with an entirely novel, innovative approach to partnering before anyone would even submit a proposal. The Trump Organization won the contract and ended up getting the golf course open, but the woes for the course continue to this day; current Mayor de Blasio is at the moment embroiled in a fight to kick Trump out. 

Could the City have avoided all the drama if it had gone on its own without a private partner? Probably not in this case, but this certainly shows there are limits to the effectiveness of such partnerships. The lesson worth learning for me has been that each partnership is unique, with its own need for differentiation, even when borrowing from existing models. 

State-sponsored savings programs are another area where experimentation in public-private partnerships is underway. The 529 college savings programs have created a template model that has been adapted for retirement savings programs like CalSavers and OregonSaves. While the partnerships may look similar at a high level, each of these new programs is unique in its own way, taking different approaches to adopting the existing model. 

I think some of the success of these programs is due to the fact that the folks involved in developing them took the time to question each part of the model and figure out what the right solutions were for their specific needs. Which partner is responsible for which functions? The answer really depends on the strengths and weaknesses of each. Success for public-private partnerships is truly a balancing act, and like all partnerships, requires constant reevaluation and adjustment over time.

More to come! / Joel

Columnist and Senior Associate Joel Metlen is based in Oregon. Joel is a pioneer of the state facilitated retirement savings space, woven into a career of public service and innovation. At OregonSaves, Joel’s responsibilities ranged from marketing and employer engagement to operations and data analysis. You’ll see his insights from that experience, and more, here.

This piece was featured in the December 16, 2021 edition of Retirement Security Matters. For more fresh thinking on retirement savings innovation, check out the newsletter here.