California State Park Closures

[haven]

http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2011/05/california-officials-70-state-parks.html

The CA State Parks System has identified 70 parks to be closed as part of the CA legislature's plan to reduce the state's budget shortfall. The list is in the article above. The park system was cut $11 million this year. Off highway vehicle areas lost $10 million in funding.

 

[shortbus4x4]

Interesting, I have been to a few of the parks listed for closure in the northern part of the state. I know last time they talked about closing some of the redwood parks up here the feds got involved and said if CA did close parks that were given to the state by the feds then the feds would take the land back. The feds said the state was given the land to be used as a state park and if it was closed then it wasn't a park and ca wasn't fulfilling its contract so therefore the feds would take it back.

It really chaps my ***** as a dirt biker that the ohv fund is getting cut so much. I am sure all the dirt bike green and red sticker registration in ca add up to more than what the governor is keeping to fund the program. It seems like anytime we voters in ca approve a fee/tax increase for a specific program it always gets robbed a few years later to pay something else.

 

[luk4mud]

Wow, thats quite a list. Not my personal thing, but McGrath SP seems like it is always packed with campers and there must be 150+ spots in there. The camps fees alone have to cover the park expenses many times over.

 

[Mamontof]

Why don't they just slash a lot of the programs the parks run. They could close down the visitor centers, cut family/childrens programs, etc.


.

Right words ...sold thickets and control a territory

Instead clean , punish why mess around and trash a parks

 

[ThomD]

Wow, thats quite a list. Not my personal thing, but McGrath SP seems like it is always packed with campers and there must be 150+ spots in there. The camps fees alone have to cover the park expenses many times over.

Hearst Castle is the only SP facility that pays its own way. All others rely on tax support. System wide, entrance fees cover about 30% of the total costs.

 

[adventureduo]

I wonder if its really happening this time... i sure as hell hope it doesn't.

 

[Christian P.]

damn, China Camp is on the list. one of the best mountain bike trail near San Francisco..

 

[luk4mud]

Hearst Castle is the only SP facility that pays its own way. All others rely on tax support. System wide, entrance fees cover about 30% of the total costs.

You seem to have some personal knowledge, which I certainly don't. No reason to debate the facts, and I can imagine that it costs alot more to maintain a park than most of us know. However, I can also imagine that the state assigns a portion of its byzantine support structure costs to each park.

However, I really have to wonder what would happen if the state were to turn some of these parks over to private companies to run. If you equate a small state park + CG to a private RV park + grounds, without the state structure to pay for, makes me wonder of there is not some money to be made there.

 

[Desert Dan]

Teachers, Fire Stations, State Parks what is next?

 

[shortbus4x4]

Teachers, Fire Stations, State Parks what is next?

Who knows. I know some peoples paychecks in Sacramento will be the last though.

 

[ETAV8R]

Quite a list of current closures.
When are we gonna wake up and get rid of all the politicians and clean up the mess...I know it is far fetched and a dream.

 

[ThomD]

Quite a list of current closures.
When are we gonna wake up and get rid of all the politicians and clean up the mess...I know it is far fetched and a dream.

While I will not argue against many politicians being boneheads, the core of the problem (this time) is this thing called the economy. You may have heard that the economy tanked recently. State revenues are way down, so cuts must be made. Voters declined to explicitly fund the parks, so the parks go on the chopping block like many other items.

I'd worry a bit more about the talk of cutting the school year by 20 days.

 

[Christian P.]

What I don't understand is how can't you have organizations like Google or Facebook (both based in CA) stepping in and helping out?

 

[gabepari]

What I don't understand is how can't you have organizations like Google or Facebook (both based in CA) stepping in and helping out?

They will... It's called higher taxes :elkgrin:

 

[alosix]

What I don't understand is how can't you have organizations like Google or Facebook (both based in CA) stepping in and helping out?

Google doesn't want their developers going out into the wild.. They need to be kept save in the college campus like compound in Mt View .

Waiting to see the paperwork for a Facebook IPO to see if they actually have any profit to work with.

On a more serious note. I think this is the same scare tactics to get us to pass higher taxes, which are already kind of insane. CA gov got used to living off the $$ from the tech and housing booms and hasn't realized that reality has set in.

I do wonder how much they'll save by closing the parks given that they'd then need to patrol them to keep people out.

I think we're loosing one fairly decent SAR dog training area in Gilroy. Oddly, this park doesn't really have any facilities, just a few trails, and seems to mostly be used for cattle grazing. Again.. Rangers stop by one or 2x while we're there training on the weekends in relatively new F250s and 350s.

Not to much love lost personally for me, most of the CA State parks don't allow dogs. If I'm going out for a hike, the dogs are coming.. so...

Jason