Public vs Private: Park Edition 

The sad truth is that when property is “public”, that is, owned by everyone, it’s treated poorly, like it’s owned by no one.

“Today, that $2 million bathroom is missing a sink” Got an audible laugh from me.

I visited this park several years ago with my wife and I remember thinking what a great job NYC was doing. Now I know why, they let the private sector run it! Thanks for shedding a light on these things for us, John.

"Whenever possible, let the private sector handle things." that's the main point of, well, everything

Listening to a Beethoven symphony while taking a dump in the park must be an epic experience.

I'm guessing the missing sink cost $10k to get it replaced and takes 6 months to install it?

4:42 "high union wages" shows a clip of a fork driver on his phone 🤣 I love stossel

That's a beautiful park. He even managed to make it feel exciting and lively without "amusements" or too many other gimmicks, just old-fashioned activities. I'd like to see more things like this in America.

The world needs more developers like this, he is a genius.

The park is just a manifestation of the intelligence and vision of private entrepreneurs working cooperatively.

this literally can be done for everything. Public funded shit sucks because theres no incentive to keep it clean. Its just a handout

Thanks Stossel! Just used this and the other bathroom movie to teach my daughter that she needed to understand the concept of millions so she could be smarter than New York politicians!

I love the continuity of your videos with regards to the fact that the 2 million dollar bathroom is made of "durable material" but is already missing a sink LOL

Just an example of when it's your money money you are usually more responsible or at least careful.

Stossel, one of the few remaining journalists. Most are soulless, corporate and politician propagandists. We love you John!!!!

I remember my economics teacher back in high school saying something that stuck with me forever. Would you rather use a public or private bathroom? Usually people tend to take care of the things they own better.

John Stossel still making perfect sense. You have to wonder why he hasn't been banned.

“Personally, I liked the university; they gave us money, and facilities; we didn’t have to produce anything… You don’t know what it’s like out there; I worked in the private sector - they expect RESULTS” -Dr Raymond Stantz

Given how well Bryant Park was executed by a private corporation, I wonder if the city will ban further projects like this one? 4:00 onward is pretty embarrassing for them. If not for Stossel, I doubt I would've come by this information, and I've walked by Bryant Park several times in the past 10-12 years. Thanks again, John!

The reason that parks commissioner was smiling ear to ear was because knew he got a large chunk of that 2 million for the bathroom and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

GOD I freaking love capitalism! Politicians are a burden to progress.

Unfortunately very few if any politicians will see this video. It's too embarrassing.

This is exactly why Bryant Park is so clean and relatively safe compared to other parks in NYC. The vendors around the park offer great foods and beverages which just enhance the overall experience. I’ve watched a few movies there too…always a good time. Keep up the great work!!

My hat is off to this gentleman. I worked by Bryant Park 25 years ago and enjoyed it most days during lunch. It was a wonderful place.

Props to this guy for taking matters into his own hands and making something beautiful.

Every time I think Stossel can't possibly show more of government's ineptness, he outdoes himself again. If only the majority of people could see what is common sense to a select few. Fantastic exposé!

As someone who once worked in municipal government, this is spot on. We had a 3 supervisors just to watch over 14 people. That's right: 1 boss for about every 4.5 workers. Our budget: in the millions. Tax payer money. No joke. Over those 3 supervisors was a manager. And over that manager was a director. And over that director was a deputy city manager. And over that deputy city manager was the city manager. And over that city manager, a mayor and an entire city council. They needed that giant hierarchy because all the people in charge delegated their work to someone else. Requests for service sometimes took years. I'm talking routine stuff, not building new bathrooms or playgrounds. Just general maintenance. The rate of turn over was outrageous. I mean people were quitting and you didn't even meet them yet. Money flowing down the drain from hiring and training and hiring and training. Parks full of needles, graffiti. And when you ask the people in charge how they think they're doing, it's thumbs up, baby! Let's build more parks!

God bless you and keep you John Stossel. Thank you for all that you do.

Government has no incentive to do anything beyond the minimum of what's required.

I must admit, the park owner was diplomatic in portraying government positively!!

Please live forever and never stop doing journalism. Thanks

I always look forward to John's videos, glad we have someone like him on RU-vid

Private management and applying the Broken Windows Theory made this park wonderful. It’s a shame the rest of the city turned away from the policies that saved NYC a while back.

I know someone that is working with NYC on a covid project. He said the amount of money they spent on flyers was 250k. Flyers!!! That’s just on paper. Imagine everything else.

Other that the 60 seconds this video focuses on the "city" bathroom towards the end, THIS HAS TO BE the most positive video I have ever watched regarding the City of New York. EXCELLENT work, Mr. Stossel, and thanks for all your years of hard work. Honestly, I'm amazed here.

Great video, John. I love it when you highlight the good things the private sector brings to us in comparison to the relative "crap" government brings.

Public survives, Private - thrives.

Stossel, you hit the ball out of the park so often it's almost boring. but DON'T STOP!

Public vs Private is the key. Without competition between the two, each becomes ineffective, greedy, and lazy.

Praise God And God Bless You All!🎄➕

John I’m 50 and I’ve been listening to you for years. Thanks for all you do. God bless.

Unfortunately we're just getting more and more government nowadays

You really tell it like it is! We need more people like you to spread the word. Get the government out of our faces. Thank you for all your great videos!

There's a huge difference between true private management by businessmen that have a stake in their communities and the soulless corporate management that is now running most of our world. It used to be considered the civic duty of any rich person to care for his own town or city. They contributed hundreds of thousands of hospitals, parks, museums and libraries across the country. Now everything is contracted out by government to corporate management. This is the direction that healthcare is headed which is why going to the hospital is becoming a soulless, dangerous affair.

"as long as they follow the rules we treat them like any other visitor." Beautiful, the way it should be

A rather modest, polite man who is providing a good service. I quite enjoyed this one.

What I learned from this video is that if you want your community to be thriving and beautiful you need to take it into your own hands and cultivate that culture and environment.

Mr. Stossel I've enjoyed your work for many years now sir. Keep it up, people love to hear from you!

The private sector should do everything, and it's always possible. Government is just an agency with a perceived justified monopoly on force. The difference is private agencies can't use the threat of force to extort money from people and force compliance, because they are kept in check by other private agencies. Of course, private agencies often use government to extort and oppress through legislation that allows subsidies, regulatory capture, zoning laws, and more; that's called corporatism.

Government can't do what the private sector does because they're corrupt. Beautiful work as always Mr. Stossel. Thank you.

I wish more people watched these and really listened. He has good messages.

Stossel is a treasure to common sense-thinking people. Thank you, John! Love your work!

Stossel is a hero among most men. DC and Marvel wish they could write stories as good as his. Thank God for this man.

Stossel at his best. So glad to see a follow-up on this bathroom story

There is a very small stretch of public land in front of my house that was neglected and filled with rubbish. Over the last 7 years I've cleaned it up planted trees and done a bit of landscaping to it. People now stop and rest there, its attractiveness has lifted the surrounding property prices.

If only another 100 million people watched John Stossel, we would all be better off.

Small Government is Good Government!

John Stossel is a national treasure. Cherish him ! 🤗🇺🇲

Big Government sucks. John Stossel is here making a perfect example of it again and again. Keep up the good work!

Excellent video John, love to see how private sector innovates with small conveniences and showing that they care about their establishments.

What makes John stossel believable to me is the fact that he is a New Yorker. I'm a New Yorker myself and I can verify everything he says on this video. John stossel is a libertarian legend.

Try the bathroom at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania supported by the Duponts and private donations. Like a little slice of the garden of eden……

Holy shit this legitimately feels like a Parks and Rec parody.

We need more investigative journalism back in the main stream! John Stossel is a dang hero to the public.

The city just tried to come in and "help" our HOA manage the walking trail behind my house. They did such a terrible job that our HOA had to deal with twice the headaches, one from the city involvement and then another because they had to take over all the jobs the city attempted. We're back to paying 100%, and now the city thinks it's a public park.

Having worked for a state dept. of Natural Resources with the task of inspecting parks with Land & Water Conservation Fund $$$ in them, I can attest to John’s claims about shoddy parks.

John, you are one of my hero’s…. Please keep on “keepin on”

hats off to the staff for having pride in their work

$2M for “durable materials” and years later the not so durable sink is broken😬🤦🏾‍♂️

I was in that park a week ago for two days, never used the bathroom, now I wish I had. It was such a beautiful park, take a tour of the historic library next door to it, the books are all stored under this park.

I love these videos. Thanks Mr. Stossel.

Great video! Thank you John Stossel.

That duct tape in the 2 million dollar public restroom cost $2000 I'm only kidding but it wouldn't surprise me one bit if it cost that or more.

I’m sure you’ve heard this before. You are a national treasure and I hope there is someone like you in the wings to carry on after you retire.

Y’all should checkout the Getty’s museum in LA. Similar concept, only things you have to pay for is parking and food. The museum itself is entirely free, a Gift from Mr. Getty.

Keep preaching it, Stossel!

Ever since I first saw the 2 million dollar bathroom video. I’ve been going to Bryant park since then and I thank you stossel

I watched John Stossle’s public vs. private park restrooms video in an Economic’s class years ago, but the video itself was older I think. Spot on stuff, though.

At first, I thought this was just a recycled version of your old special about the public and private bathrooms. Thanks for showing something new with an update on the government bathroom that's still doing worse.

Bless the hardworking people that clean our restrooms.

The response to the bathrooms costing more than homes in the area at a paltry sum of 2 million, *"Well, compared to the surrounding homes, the materials used are more durable and the labor unions make paying workers cost more too." 🤔... 🤣🤣 Cement, cinder blocks, institutional tiles, and institutional sinks as well as toilets won't even account for 80k in materials! They took care of the contractor because that can afford to blow money in a big city and all because they have "friends with benefits."

We need people like this guy, but about 100,000 of them, to micromanage everything the govt. does. Maybe the govt. would have efficiency.

Gosh I love Stossel's videos!

"I'm from the Govt. and I'm here to help" LOL

Mr Stossel, when you post a new video I watch it before anything else, including Ingram = that's the highest praise I can offer.

"Governments rarely take care of things like maintenance and trash pickup" - Yeah, so we're supposed to be okay with it running our lives? No thanks joe, nancy & soros, inc. - LET'S GO BRANDON!!

John Stossel is one of my favorite people on earth.

Amazing!! Thank you for telling this story!

2:54 Had to chuckle when Dan Biederman paused to carefully choose his words about criticizing the government. Thankfully, Stossel never pauses...

Thanks Mr. Stossel for showing us that there is still hope for mankind, even in N.Y.C. Thanks also for reminding us that government can screw up role-call on a one man submarine.

Great video! Thank you John.

Thank you John. Don’t mean to be hyperbolic, but you are a national treasure. Please keep up the great work :)

Problem is folks somehow started using the word "care" in the same sentence as "government" . Govts are not designed to "care". The role is to build the infrastructure under which we care for ourselves, families and our communities.

At this point, you would think the government itself would see the potential here. Imagine the impact on our financial health as a nation. We need to cut costs in as many sectors as we can. We also need to shrink the government. A lot.

Good Park that everyone enjoys themselves = Leslie Knope approves It's private = Ron Swanson raises his glass of whiskey

How absolutely awesome is this!?! Great to see! Lovely park and people simply enjoying themselves!

Government “we pay more” Me “but that costs everyone else more” Government “hahahaha we know”

That bathroom would cost 1.5 million if they sold it as a home. edit: of course stossel mentions a 2 million dollar bathroom. LOL

Hey Stoss, it's been a minute since we've spoken. Keep doing you work which is a service to us all.

Our BMV went private a few years ago and the difference in service is amazing! Employees get rewards for positive feedback.