Government = customer service!

Not that this is entirely new to the U.S., where private sector customer service methods have permeated public sector and especially politics, to the point of rendering the idea "public good" obsolete, but some bureaucracies are beginning to change their tune.

One of them, the infamous WMATA, is looking to train their employees with "verbal judo," so that riders, their "customers," receive better service.

Here's a progressive journal's take on how traditional bureaucracies can change their ways. Re-orienting towards "customers" - i.e. the public - is one way of listening and encouraging public opinion and discourse, crucial elements in creating any built environment.

But don't go too far in doing this. Balance is the key, unlike Wendell Cox's "Public Purpose," which really turned my stomach this morning. The guy's trying to talk about freedom and liberty, but pretty soon there will be no freedom of mobility if you follow his thinking. Also, I just hate it when people appropriate terms, like "public purpose" to defend the motives and actions of private interests.

In both cases, it's a complicated story, full of nuances. I realize how temporal the discussion can be. But now I'm watching these people.