The Chair of the Libertarian Party Burlington Committee, Hugh Douglas, has sharply criticized the City of Burlington's plan to start its own telecommunication company. Douglas spoke about the city's continuing history of incompetence whenever it has involved itself in business undertakings that would be better left to the private sector. It seems everything they touch goes bad, from the mismanagement of the waterfront, which now has buildings in reclaimed areas that were supposed to be devoid of buildings, to the placement of a police station on prime real estate which could be yielding property taxes, to public ownership of parking garages built with tax dollars diverted from property taxes and which themselves yield no property tax revenue.
Potholes are everywhere.
The Libertarian Party believes that government should not enter into the private business sector. Although much of the support for the telecom proposal is based on generating competition, the fact is that government, by its very authoritative and coercive nature, cannot compete efficiently. The Vermont Libertarian Party urges the city of Burlington to abandon the telecommunication scheme. Lets cut our losses now rather than fund yet another sub-standard project.