For thousands of years, the notions of private property and ownership have been basic to Western Civilization beginning before the Old Testament and reinforced again in the New Testament. We own many things. Our possessions include our real estate, cars, furnishings, and clothing as well as less material things like our names, our memories, our talents, our personality, our reputation, our thoughts and, to some degree, other living beings, like our loved ones - human and otherwise.
There is also the notion of public ownership. Citizens are part owners of their homeland and residents are part owners of their public spaces like parks, highways and bridges. Those who pay for, use, and depend upon public facilities have a vested interest in their continued availability. Citizens elect representatives to not only make and enforce policies for the greater good, but also to properly maintain our public property.
The private sector which affects the flow of private property is driven by the profit motive, enlightened self-interest. In our western, capitalistic society, the banking industry controls the flow of capital - the cause and effect of private ownership, by deciding to whom to lend money and for whom to deny it. Private sector activity is monitored and impacted by the appropriate government agencies - the public sector - as well as by shareholders, the media and by the consumer.
Private sector workers are primarily motivated by the same profit motive as is their industry. In this sector, in order to ensure maximized profit, employees are evaluated based on their ability and effectiveness. Just as private sector firms are competitive, so are their employees. Only the best survive. The better you do, the better you do.
The public sector is controlled by government agencies to provide for the efficient and effective distribution of public services to create and maintain public property. The goal is not maximizing profit.
In the public sector, workers are motivated by a love of service
to the community and/or by the comfort of knowing that their jobs are safe and that their performance will not be used for or against them when it comes to raises and promotions. This environment can foster a spirit of cooperation rather than the competition found in the private sector. But it can also cause some to become less enthusiastic about doing much at work since it makes very little extrinsic difference.
We see this in education where inadequate teachers who have seniority and tenure don’t have to worry about losing their jobs because any layoffs that occur will affect the least senior teachers, no matter how excellent their work has been.
We see this in our city’s and probably our state’s civil service system. Public employees testing for promotional opportunities are not judged on any of their past evaluations (if there are any), no matter how behavior-based, because they could be subjective. The promotion must be based on seniority as well as the results (subjective and/or objective) of a standardized oral or written examination. Seniority and test taking ability can become more important criteria than actual past performance.
The same is true in many public sector agencies where transfers to other units are granted based solely on seniority of the requester and the request.
The effect of this difference in private and public sector performance is striking.
The private sector employee is motivated by fear of job loss and by an ambition to succeed as well as any intrinsic motivations that might be involved such as pride in one’s work, wanting the organization to succeed, being of service and a nice working environment.
The public sector employee can enjoy job security and excellent present and future fringe benefits like a good pension, with some getting 90% of their pay in retirement, and a Cadillac health plan. There also is the satisfaction of serving the public to help make life that much more pleasant for the people affected by their services - police officers save lives and arrest criminals; firefighters save burning buildings and rush people suffering illness or injury to the hospital; nurses and social workers help those in greatest social or physical need. Public sector gardeners can provide the community with beautiful spaces filled with nature as relief from the concrete and metal that surrounds us.
While we each can encourage our private sector by making wise purchases that reward quality, value and creativity, we must motivate our public service sector by treasuring our public property and insisting that it be maintained. Just as we should take good care of our private possessions, we can also take that same responsibility for our public property.
Do you see a public garbage can with its door flung open by someone who had been digging in it for food or recyclables? Stop and close it back up. It’s your can on your property.
Do see someone sleeping on the sidewalk or in the road? See if the person needs help or call the number to get city services for the person. Your sidewalk or road was not made for sleeping on and humans deserve a better place to sleep.
Have you noticed that they stopped work on a street repair leaving everyone to navigate their way over wooden planks and large barriers? Contact the appropriate city agency to get the work started again.
This just happened in Pacific Heights at a busy intersection. Workers began replacing the four corner curb cuts but left the job unfinished and never came back leaving wooden planks and large plastic road barriers behind. This absence went on for almost a month and during that time it appears that only one person called in to have the job completed. Hundreds of people passed by this unfinished work everyday. Shop owners saw it. Shoppers saw it. Police officers saw it. And yet only one person called in and had it finished.
It was “the Emperor’s New Clothes” in reverse with only one person declaring that the emperor (intersection) has too many clothes (obstacles).
Neighbors saw their park being neglected by Recreation and Park personnel. Weeds were everywhere, trees were dying, park benches were battered, cigarette butts were everywhere in this “no smoking” area that lacked proper signage or enforcement and the pavement was cracked. After many years of passive acceptance by most park visitors, a few concerned public property owners, have begun work to redo the park. They meet with their district supervisor and with park officials to motivate them to do what is needed to fix the park and then to properly manage it. These neighbors are exercising their ownership of the park.
So just as we need the public to keep the private sector from its potential excesses, we need private individuals to keep the public sector from its potential shortcomings - inefficiency and ineffectiveness with the strong scent of impunity.
There is also the notion of public ownership. Citizens are part owners of their homeland and residents are part owners of their public spaces like parks, highways and bridges. Those who pay for, use, and depend upon public facilities have a vested interest in their continued availability. Citizens elect representatives to not only make and enforce policies for the greater good, but also to properly maintain our public property.
The private sector which affects the flow of private property is driven by the profit motive, enlightened self-interest. In our western, capitalistic society, the banking industry controls the flow of capital - the cause and effect of private ownership, by deciding to whom to lend money and for whom to deny it. Private sector activity is monitored and impacted by the appropriate government agencies - the public sector - as well as by shareholders, the media and by the consumer.
Private sector workers are primarily motivated by the same profit motive as is their industry. In this sector, in order to ensure maximized profit, employees are evaluated based on their ability and effectiveness. Just as private sector firms are competitive, so are their employees. Only the best survive. The better you do, the better you do.
The public sector is controlled by government agencies to provide for the efficient and effective distribution of public services to create and maintain public property. The goal is not maximizing profit.
In the public sector, workers are motivated by a love of service
to the community and/or by the comfort of knowing that their jobs are safe and that their performance will not be used for or against them when it comes to raises and promotions. This environment can foster a spirit of cooperation rather than the competition found in the private sector. But it can also cause some to become less enthusiastic about doing much at work since it makes very little extrinsic difference.
We see this in education where inadequate teachers who have seniority and tenure don’t have to worry about losing their jobs because any layoffs that occur will affect the least senior teachers, no matter how excellent their work has been.
We see this in our city’s and probably our state’s civil service system. Public employees testing for promotional opportunities are not judged on any of their past evaluations (if there are any), no matter how behavior-based, because they could be subjective. The promotion must be based on seniority as well as the results (subjective and/or objective) of a standardized oral or written examination. Seniority and test taking ability can become more important criteria than actual past performance.
The same is true in many public sector agencies where transfers to other units are granted based solely on seniority of the requester and the request.
The effect of this difference in private and public sector performance is striking.
The private sector employee is motivated by fear of job loss and by an ambition to succeed as well as any intrinsic motivations that might be involved such as pride in one’s work, wanting the organization to succeed, being of service and a nice working environment.
The public sector employee can enjoy job security and excellent present and future fringe benefits like a good pension, with some getting 90% of their pay in retirement, and a Cadillac health plan. There also is the satisfaction of serving the public to help make life that much more pleasant for the people affected by their services - police officers save lives and arrest criminals; firefighters save burning buildings and rush people suffering illness or injury to the hospital; nurses and social workers help those in greatest social or physical need. Public sector gardeners can provide the community with beautiful spaces filled with nature as relief from the concrete and metal that surrounds us.
While we each can encourage our private sector by making wise purchases that reward quality, value and creativity, we must motivate our public service sector by treasuring our public property and insisting that it be maintained. Just as we should take good care of our private possessions, we can also take that same responsibility for our public property.
Do you see a public garbage can with its door flung open by someone who had been digging in it for food or recyclables? Stop and close it back up. It’s your can on your property.
Do see someone sleeping on the sidewalk or in the road? See if the person needs help or call the number to get city services for the person. Your sidewalk or road was not made for sleeping on and humans deserve a better place to sleep.
Have you noticed that they stopped work on a street repair leaving everyone to navigate their way over wooden planks and large barriers? Contact the appropriate city agency to get the work started again.
This just happened in Pacific Heights at a busy intersection. Workers began replacing the four corner curb cuts but left the job unfinished and never came back leaving wooden planks and large plastic road barriers behind. This absence went on for almost a month and during that time it appears that only one person called in to have the job completed. Hundreds of people passed by this unfinished work everyday. Shop owners saw it. Shoppers saw it. Police officers saw it. And yet only one person called in and had it finished.
It was “the Emperor’s New Clothes” in reverse with only one person declaring that the emperor (intersection) has too many clothes (obstacles).
Neighbors saw their park being neglected by Recreation and Park personnel. Weeds were everywhere, trees were dying, park benches were battered, cigarette butts were everywhere in this “no smoking” area that lacked proper signage or enforcement and the pavement was cracked. After many years of passive acceptance by most park visitors, a few concerned public property owners, have begun work to redo the park. They meet with their district supervisor and with park officials to motivate them to do what is needed to fix the park and then to properly manage it. These neighbors are exercising their ownership of the park.
So just as we need the public to keep the private sector from its potential excesses, we need private individuals to keep the public sector from its potential shortcomings - inefficiency and ineffectiveness with the strong scent of impunity.
