Arnold Schwarzenegger has dumped his plan to close 48 state parks. The Sacramento Bee reports:
Backpedaling from his earlier plan, the Republican governor will not seek to close 48 state parks, ask for early release of 22,000 inmates or give schools less money than they are guaranteed by the state Constitution.
Advocates who were briefed on the governor’s plans late Tuesday, however, said most of Schwarzenegger’s proposed cuts to health and welfare services will remain in a $101.8 billion spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
The guy who ran Gray Davis out of town on a fiscal-responsibility platform wants to use future lottery revenues as collateral for $15 billion worth of bonds to close the current deficit. Hmm.
Looks like Henry Coe and Portola Redwoods are in the clear for now. Fees may go up a dollar or two, though.
Sounds like the ol’ good news / bad news…
Buy some lottery tickets, help California balance its budget!
And don’t get me started on the VLF!
MUST… NOT… TALK… POLITICS…
The biggest thing that keeps me from going to Coe these days is
that it’s a 60+ minute drive, especially with all the twisty parts
at the end.
Interesting. I suppose the devil is in the details no matter how you decide to proceed with this rotten mess. I was talking to one of the rangers at Coe last Saturday, and apparently it would actally cost more to close the park and keep people out than it would to keep it open. Keeping people out would require more paid officers than the 2 on staff now, and no revenue at all comming in. Didn’t make sense anyway.
I could say “I told you so.” But I won’t… 🙂
To some extent, Randy has it right. Closing parks would have been a largely symbolic act. One of the benefits of continually underfunding parks is that there is little to gain by not funding them at all, if you get my drift. And it is true that closing the parks would still require the state to expend a portion of the meager funding that now exists.
In the end the PR and actual costs of fighting that fight were likely not worth it.
Dan
Though I was as upset as everyone else at the original announcement, I was pretty sure it was all a big bluff to bring people in to the budget conversation. It’s just a big mess, that’s all I’ve got to say.
Dan: I bow to your oracular powers on this one; I suspected you were right when you warned us it was all a political ploy.
Nevertheless, enough people took it seriously enough and made enough noise, apparently, to at least oblige the Guv’s people to reconsider. And there was the pure dollars-and-sense issue of closing the parks not saving that much money anyway. And it lets the Guv appear to be a commonsense player.
Good news…now I wait and see what he will do to education…
That was as un – earth shattering an announcement as I’ve seen from his office so far. It was completely expected, due in part to the outcry of park users as well as the simple economics of it.
Unfortunately, this little bluff was just the beginning. Imagine what will happen when they make public that the revenue shortfall due to foreclosures and reduced property values has prompted a “tax emergency.” Expect all kinds of fees to rise, including fuel taxes. Expect taxes on services never before considered for taxation. Expect a very, very uneasy next 4 – 5 years for the state budget….
And vote wisely this year. It means something!