Skip to main content
Water faucet

Baltimore joins the global movement against privatization

Thomas Hanna

Thomas Hanna

Director of Research at The Democracy Collaborative more

Democracy & Governance

In These Times features a key vote in Baltimore that is the latest chapter in a global movement toward keeping public services in public hands.

On November 6, Baltimore became the first major city in the United States whose residents voted to ban water privatization. Nearly 77 percent of voters cast ballots in favor of Question E, which declared the “inalienability” of the water and sewer systems and exempted them from any city charter provisions related to franchising or operational rights.

This vote resulted from an ongoing struggle waged by Baltimore community activists, unions and civic leaders demanding affordable access to water for low-income residents. That struggle emerged in response to concern the city could sell off the community’s water infrastructure to for-profit investors.   

The vote is also part of an emerging worldwide movement to fight back against privatization and to municipalize or re-municipalize (put under public control) local enterprises and services. Between 2007 and 2014, the number of privately owned water systems in the United States fell by 7 percent.

Read the full story in In These Times.

 

Thomas Hanna

Thomas Hanna

Director of Research at The Democracy Collaborative more

More related work

Public bank

Constructing the Democratic Public Bank: A governance proposal for Los Angeles

Public banks have the potential to address a host of economic, social, and ecological crises, but it is important to get the institutional structure right. This report offers recommendations for a Los Angeles public bank and addresses key questions of who the public bank serves and how. read more
Black Wall Street (Greenwood, Tulsa, Oklahoma)

From revelation to reckoning to revolution: In pursuit of racial justice

MLK said we need “a radical redistribution of economic and political power” to address the impact of racism in America. One place to start is to assess the transgenerational impact of slavery and systemic racism on Black people and what it would take to repair that damage. read more

Reports

COVID-19 and 21st century public ownership

COVID-19 and 21st century public ownership

COVID-19 has made the case for reimagining the ownership and governance of our economies on both sides of the Atlantic more urgent than ever. To meet the needs of the moment, an agenda to extend democratic public ownership is essential. read more