Sale of federal buildings could be difficult
President Obama could not have been more clear, when outlining his budget proposal in Baltimore last week.
"Now, some of the savings will come through less waste and more efficiency," he said. "To take just one example, by getting rid of 14,000 office buildings, lots and government-owned properties we no longer need, we can save taxpayers billions of dollars."
Implementing that vision, however, has not been easy. More than two years after the government tallied 14,000 vacant buildings under President George W. Bush and eight months after Obama issued a presidential memo asking that $3 billion in savings be found from shedding excess real estate, the public still knows little about the value, location, condition or size of those properties -- much less how they might be purchased or leased. Doubts are being raised by the Government Accountability Office and private sector analysts about whether the president can meet his savings goal by his stated deadline, the end of 2012.
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By
Jonathan O'Connell
| February 20, 2011; 6:51 PM ET
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Administration, From The Pages of The Post
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This is something that should have been done years ago.
I know personally of many federal buildings being used just 2-3 times in a YEAR yet they are kept up 24/7 all year long
Posted by: Bious | February 21, 2011 7:56 PM | Report abuse
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