Interesting editorial in today’s N&R on the failed bid to put a forensics mental hospital in High Point:
Doors will close at Dorothea Dix in Raleigh, and they won’t open at a private forensic hospital in High Point — because there won’t be such a facility in High Point.
It’s not clear yet whether Guilford County missed a good opportunity to gain jobs and property tax revenue, but local officials certainly didn’t play their hand very well.
The opportunity originated with the state’s plan to shut Dix, which has housed mentally ill and criminally insane patients for more than a century. Last year, it sought bids from private companies to provide treatment for the same population. A Florida firm, Geo Care, offered the only serious response. It operates prisons and forensic hospitals in several states.
….Maybe the state will reject all private options and the High Point plan would have gone nowhere anyway. But local leaders might have to be more flexible to take advantage of the next opportunity. Unfortunately, doors like this don’t open often.
I understand there was opposition from some HP residents as well as High Point Mayor Becky Smothers, who wished to see mixed-use development on the land. But once the zoning hurdle was cleared, it appeared to me the project was a slam dunk until the state spiked GEO’s bid for a license. GEO was the only company to make a bid, so it’s back to the proverbial drawing board.
I guess the question is whether or not the state is seeking to privatize a service, if you will, then turning it around and making it too difficult for private companies to provide that service. Does anyone else find it strange that GEO was the only company to bid?