Thursday, March 03, 2011

ECONOMY - Good Management from White House

"Cleaning House: White House Eyes Sale of 14,000 Unused Federal Buildings" by DEVIN DWYER, ABC News 3/3/2011 (includes video)

Excerpt

Plan to Sell Vacant Federal Property Could Save Taxpayers Billions

Five office buildings in Fort Worth, Texas, a million-square-foot warehouse and parking lot in Brooklyn, New York, and thousands of other government-owned properties sit vacant every day, costing taxpayers more than $1 billion a year to maintain.

The Obama administration says it's time now to shutter them for good and sell them to help trim the federal deficit.

The White House announced Wednesday that it would form an independent board of experts to help the federal government "cut through red tape and politics to sell property it no longer needs."

"The plan will save taxpayers $15 billion over the first three years the Board is fully up and running," said Jeff Zients, the federal chief performance officer and the deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget.

Zients said the administration has already identified 14,000 properties that are "excess," or vacant, and ready to be sold. The full list will be made public within the next month.

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