Make sure you get what you pay for in welfare-to-work programs. The city should pay only for results, not for the process or for the program itself.

Determine exactly how much it's worth to get a person off welfare and into a job. Then say to any organization that would like to participate: "Come to me with your plan for moving people off welfare, and if the plan sounds OK, I'll tell you to do it. But I'm not going pay you until you place them in a job and they hold it for some period of time."

Companies like mine, along with any of the existing employment and training programs, could come forward with plans. Perhaps even the Human Resources Administration and the Department of Employment would want to try it. But they wouldn't get a nickel unless they produced results.