Unseemly? Unseemliness?
Unseemliness describes a maniacal gobble-fest between competitors for profits. In this terminology, the behaviour of a flock of seagulls fighting over a spilled bag of chips is . . . unseemly.
The world of Public Private Partnerships has become the playing field for profit gobble-fests as governments and developers are roped together by political policy into head-banging competition.
And who are among these unseemly victors at a neighbourhood gobble? Why governments themselves, of course!
And governments, it seems, just cannot control their unseemly behaviour. Joined by flocks of citizen-enablers and co-competitors of many feathered markings (charities, non-profits, neighbourhood associations, etc), they are hellbent on wringing every tiny copper coin from the pockets of well-meaning developers who arrive to rebuild each ravaged neighbourhood, quite prepared to bravely sacrifice most if not all profit for the good of society.
Another view of public-private partnerships is of the private fox sauntering through the henhouse door, salivating and rubbing its paws as it eyes up its plump, feathered public prey. It comes as something of a shock to discover that the fox is itself in greatest danger of being pecked to death by the hens. Unseemly, indeed!
A recent article is a particularly course-correcting read for governments and non-profits who imagine themselves as the underdogs in these confrontations, not the profit-gobbling aggressors. Read the dramatic saga of sharp-billed governments as well as non-profits (the seagulls) pecking at the soft underbellies of hopeful yet gullible developers (the potato chips) in E21: When Expensive Cities Rezone, An Unseemly Fight For The Spoils Ensues
