ABSTRACT
As competition for the public tax dollar increases, bold and imaginative recreation and parks departments will seek new ways for public-private cooperation. John Crompton advocates cooperation between public agencies and private industry in providing leisure services and discusses three major qualifying conditions. Agencies have begun to explore more seriously the potential of a whole range of working formulas for cooperating with private and commercial organizations to provide programs and facilities. Public refers to government-operated facilities and commercial, to profit enterprises; but these are complementary rather than mutually exclusive institutions [and their] goals are increasingly in alignment. The public agency and commercial enterprise bring complementary strengths to a joint working arrangement. Much of the negative attitude towards commercial enterprise arises from misunderstanding of the emotive word profit with its traditional connotations of onerous exploitation. If a commercial enterprise enters into a cooperative arrangement with a public agency, it may also have to accept labor policies which apply in the public sector.
