Efficiency in city services is purely in the eyes of the beholder. Further, efficiency is not the bellwether of good government - it is effectiveness in providing the services. Effectiveness is not necessarily efficient, nor should it be. All the hoopla spouted about the efficiency of the private sector is just so much blow. I've worked for many private sector firms and contracted with most of the others.
Private firms are no better at running their operations than governments are.
In fact, private companies especially major corporations - are riddled with incompetence, dead weight and incompatible systems. They are at least as bureaucratic as any government entity I've ever seen, and the bigger they are, the worse it gets - in direct contravention of the principles of acquisition and consolidation. Yes, Harriet Island is looking good, but do not be deceived, Mr. Swift. Harriet Island has always attracted visitors. It used to be that families and communities could go down and lay ball and do the family thing, not the organized cement-based lollygaging we now can do, but the stuff leisure was invented for.