Daily Update March 18, 2026 Private Sector Is Better For The Environment As Well

New Hanover County is proving that the private sector does a better job than government at protecting our environment and managing green space. In this Wilmington Standard Daily Update, we break down the county’s decision to negotiate the sale of the Flossie Bryan tract to the private, non-partisan Coastal Land Trust, why Commissioner Dane Scalise is right about saving taxpayers money, and how this model can apply to everything from trash collection to human services. It’s a clear example of better services, less waste, and smaller government in action.

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This is the Wilmington Standard Daily Update for Wednesday, March 18th, 2026. New Hanover County just demonstrated that it understands the private sector can do a better job than the government at just about everything, including managing and protecting the environment. On March 16th, the county commissioners authorized their staff to enter into negotiations to sell attractive land known as the Flossie Bryan Tract to the Coastal Land Trust. Flossie Bryan, who owns the tract, simply wants the land to be set aside for use by the public as a nature preserve. According to their website, the Coastal Land Trust is an accredited regional land trust serving 31 counties in North Carolina. They are non-partisan and science-driven, but most importantly, while they are a non-profit organization, they are also a private organization. In a post on Facebook, Commissioner Dane Scalise stated that the sale of this tract land further ensures that the land will never be developed, but it also allows the county to receive back most of the money paid to acquire it and saves any additional public funds from being spent to create the nature preserve itself. He is exactly right. While the preservation of green spaces might be a top issue on people's minds here in New Hanover, the business of doing so is best left to the private sector who can do it more efficiently and effectively because they have their own stakes in the game. Government at all levels can learn a lesson here, from trash collection to street repairs to human services to janitorial staff. When cities and counties and states and even the national government divest of these programs and put them in the hands of the private sector, we end up with better services, better jobs, less waste, and smaller government. And smaller government is always a good thing. For the Wilmington Standard, I'm Reuel Sample. Thanks for listening.