Millions cut from State Parks – 50 may close
July 27, 2009
I have read about this before and was quite concerned. Where is the dialogue about the budget shortfall for parks? All I’ve heard is what parks will be closed. How about taking the money out of administration and keeping parks open? Another blogger was kind enough to remind me of all this. The whole article appears at: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/25/MNPJ18UJ3C.DTL
“We want to cobble together some deals and see if we can keep some of these parks open,” said Roy Stearns, the spokesman for the state parks system. “We’re hoping we can do that all across the state.”
The plan, according to Stearns, is to negotiate partnerships with cities, counties, private companies, nonprofit organizations and philanthropists in an effort to provide maintenance, concessions and other functions that the state can no longer afford.
It has been estimated that for every dollar spent, the state parks generate $2.35 in tax revenue from economic activity in the local communities surrounding the parks.
The deal struck Friday to close most of the $26.3 billion budget gap avoids the plan previously proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to shutter more than 219 state parks, including Mount Tamalpais, Angel Island and 48 other Bay Area sites.
Nine Bay Area parks were listed then, including Henry W. Coe State Park near Morgan Hill, Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve near Guerneville, Tomales Bay State Park near Point Reyes, windswept 170-acre Candlestick Point State Recreation Area and Benicia Capitol State Historic Park.
The California State Parks Foundation had proposed charging Californians $15 extra to register their cars. The fee would have covered the parks’ $145 million general fund and allowed California drivers to visit the state’s 279 parks free.
“We’re concerned that the closing of 30 to 50 parks this year is just the start of annual budget problems,” she said.
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