I consider Apple’s rehabilitation of Chicago’s North/Clybourn transit station a dramatic success. Yonah Freemark fears the broader implications. After acknowledging that Apple has done a commendable job and that the renovations will have positive externalities, Yonah zeros in on what you might call the solidarity objection:

If it is in itself far from a blight on the urban landscape, the renovations of the North/Clybourn station suggest that the old assumptions about what is public and what is private infrastructure are coming crashing down. This means that things that had once been considered and invested in as public goods—for the sake of all, rich or poor—are being auctioned off to the highest bidder. This likely will result in difficulties paying for improvements in places where only the impoverished lived and corporate sponsorships in the land of the wealthy, like Chicago’s Near North Side. Decision-making, once in the hands of the public through democratic structures, will be slowly but surely transferred to the companies willing to chip in the most. Is this the future we want for our cities?

I disagree. My sense is that public-private partnerships will free up public resources for critical investments in policing and infrastructure that will help improve the quality of life and the life chances of our poorest and most vulnerable citizens. Regardless, this is definitely an argument worth having.