State Parks/Budget Cuts

[JustMyOpinion]

What the flip is Ahnold thinking?! As if Cauleefourneea isn't struggling enough to hold on to what makes it great (once upon a time). Not to mention that people can't affrod big trips this year and will need local parks to try and have some inexpensive fun in these difficult times. And, how would the parks be policed so that people don't use them, and if they do get used what about safety? This is dumber than dumb!
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State parks on the chopping block:

Published: Thursday, May 28, 2009 at 3:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, May 28, 2009 at 10:20 p.m.
These are the 220 state parks, state beaches, state recreation areas, museums and state reserves that officials say would be closed under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget cuts.


220 state parks could face closure

1. Leo Carrillo State Park.

2. Los Angeles State Historic Park.

3. Los Encinos State Historic Park.

4. Malibu Creek State Park.

5. Malibu Lagoon State Beach.

6. Pio Pico State Historic Park.

7. Point Mugu State Park.

8. Rio de Los Angeles State Park.

9. Robert H. Meyer Memorial State Beach.

10. Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park.

11. Topanga State Park.

12. Verdugo Mountains.

13. Will Rogers State Historic Park.

14. California State Capitol Museum.

15. Governor’s Mansion State Historic Park

16. Leland Stanford Mansion State Historic Park.

17. Railtown 1897 State Historic Park.

18. State Indian Museum State Historic Park.

19. Sutter’s Fort State Historic Park.

20. Bethany Reservoir State Recreation Area.

21. Calaveras Big Trees State Park.

22. California Mining & Mineral Museum.

23. Caswell Memorial State Park.

24. Columbia State Historic Park.

25. George J. Hatfield State Recreation Area.

26. Great Valley Grasslands State Park.

27. Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park.

28. McConnell State Recreation Area.

29. Carpinteria State Beach.

30. Chumash Painted Cave State Historic Park.

31. El Capitan State Beach.

32. Emma Wood State Beach.

33. Gaviota State Park.

34. La Purisima Mission State Historic Park.

35. McGrath State Beach.

36. Point Sal State Beach.

37. Refugio State Beach.

38. San Buenaventura State Beach.

39. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

40. Cuyamaca Rancho State Park.

41. Indio Hills Palms.

42. Palomar Mountain State Park.

43. Picacho State Recreation Area.

44. Salton Sea State Recreation Area.

45. Annadel State Park.

46. Bale Grist Mill State Historic Park.

47. Benicia Capitol State Historic Park.

48. Benicia State Recreation Area.

49. Bothe-Napa Valley State Park.

50. Candlestick Point State Recreation Area.

51. East Shore State Park State Shoreline.

52. Jack London State Historic Park.

53. John Marsh Home State Historic Park.

54. Mount Diablo State Park.

55. Petaluma Adobe State Historic Park.

56. Robert Louis Stevenson State Park.

57. Sonoma State Historic Park.

58. Sugarloaf Ridge State Park.

59. Brannan Island State Recreation Area.

60. Delta Meadows.

61. Folsom Powerhouse State Historic Park.

62. Franks Tract State Recreation Area.

63. Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park

64. Stone Lake.

65. California Citrus State Historic Park.

66. Chino Hills State Park.

67. Mount San Jacinto State Park.

68. San Timoteo Canyon.

69. Wildwood Canyon.

70. Angel Island State Park.

71. China Camp State Park.

72. Mount Tamalpais State Park.

73. Olompali State Historic Park.

74. Samuel P. Taylor State Park.

75. Tomales Bay State Park.

76. Caspar Headlands State Beach.

77. Caspar Headlands State Natural Reserve.

78. Greenwood State Beach.

79. Hendy Woods State Park.

80. Jug Handle State Natural Reserve.

81. MacKerricher State Park.

82. Mailliard Redwoods State Natural Reserve.

83. Manchester State Park.

84. Mendocino Headlands State Park.

85. Montgomery Woods State Natural Reserve.

86. Navarro River Redwoods State Park.

87. Point Cabrillo Light Station.

88. Russian Gulch State Park.

89. Schooner Gulch State Beach.

90. Van Damme State Park.

91. Westport-Union Landing State Beach.

92. Andrew Molera State Park.

93. Carmel River State Beach.

94. Fort Ord Dunes State Park.

95. Fremont Peak State Park.

96. Garrapata State Park.

97. Hatton Canyon.

98. Henry W. Coe State Park.

99. John Little State Natural Reserve.

100. Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park.

101. Marina State Beach.

102. Monterey State Beach.

103. Monterey State Historic Park.

104. Moss Landing State Beach.

105. Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park.

106. Point Lobos Ranch.

107. Point Lobos State Natural Reserve.

108. Point Sur State Historic Park.

109. Salinas River State Beach.

110. San Juan Bautista State Historic Park.

111. Zmudowski State Beach.

112. Adm. William Standley State Recreation Area.

113. Azalea State Natural Reserve.

114. Benbow Lake State Recreation Area.

115. Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park.

116. Fort Humboldt State Historic Park.

117. Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park.

118. Harry A. Merlo State Recreation Area.

119. Humboldt Lagoons State Park.

120. Humboldt Redwoods State Park.

121. Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park.

122. John B. Dewitt Redwoods State Natural Reserve.

123. Little River State Beach.

124. Patrick’s Point State Park.

125. Pelican State Beach.

126. Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.

127. Reynolds Wayside Campground.

128. Richardson Grove State Park.

129. Sinkyone Wilderness State Park.

130. Smithe Redwoods State Natural Reserve.

131. Standish-Hickey State Recreation Area.

132. Tolowa Dunes State Park.

133. Trinidad State Beach.

134. Ahjumawi Lava Springs State Park.

135. Anderson Marsh State Historic Park.

136. Bidwell Mansion State Historic Park.

137. Bidwell-Sacramento River State Park.

138. Castle Crags State Park.

139. Colusa-Sacramento River State Recreation Area.

140. McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park.

141. Shasta State Historic Park.

142. Weaverville Joss House State Historic Park.

143. William B. Ide Adobe State Historic Park.

144. Woodson Bridge State Recreation Area.

145. Pismo State Beach.

146. Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve.

147. Austin Creek State Recreation Area.

148. Fort Ross State Historic Park.

149. Kruse Rhododendron State Natural Reserve.

150. Salt Point State Park.

151. Sonoma Coast State Park.

152. Border Field State Park.

153. Carlsbad State Beach.

154. San Pasqual Battlefield State Historic Park.

155. Silver Strand State Beach.

156. Torrey Pines State Beach.

157. Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve.

158. Estero Bluffs State Park.

159. Hearst San Simeon State Park.

160. Limekiln State Park.

161. Los Osos Oaks State Natural Reserve.

162. Montaña de Oro State Park.

163. Morro Bay State Park.

164. Morro Strand State Beach.

165. William Randolph Hearst Memorial State Beach.

166. Año Nuevo State Natural Reserve.

167. Año Nuevo State Park.

168. Bean Hollow State Beach.

169. Big Basin Redwoods State Park.

170. Burleigh H. Murray Ranch.

171. Butano State Park.

172. Castle Rock State Park.

173. Castro Adobe (Rancho San Andres).

174. Gray Whale Cove State Beach.

175. Half Moon Bay State Beach.

176. Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park.

177. Lighthouse Field State Beach.

178. Manresa State Beach.

179. Montara State Beach.

180. Natural Bridges State Beach.

181. New Brighton State Beach.

182. Pescadero State Beach.

183. Point Montara Light Station.

184. Pomponio State Beach.

185. Portola Redwoods State Park.

186. San Gregorio State Beach.

187. Santa Cruz Mission State Historic Park.

188. Seacliff State Beach.

189. Sunset State Beach.

190. The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park.

191. Thornton State Beach.

192. Twin Lakes State Beach.

193. Wilder Ranch State Park.

194. Bodie State Historic Park.

195. Burton Creek State Park.

196. D.L. Bliss State Park.

197. Donner Memorial State Park.

198. Ed Z'berg Sugar Pine Point State Park.

199. Emerald Bay State Park.

200. Empire Mine State Historic Park.

201. Grover Hot Springs State Park.

202. Kings Beach State Recreation Area.

203. Lake Valley State Recreation Area.

204. Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park.

205. Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve.

206. Plumas-Eureka State Park.

207. South Yuba River State Park.

208. Tahoe State Recreation Area.

209. Ward Creek.

210. Washoe Meadows State Park.

211. Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve.

212. Antelope Valley Indian Museum.

213. Arthur B. Ripley Desert Woodland State Park.

214. Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park.

215. Fort Tejon State Historic Park.

216. Providence Mountains State Recreation Area.

217. Red Rock Canyon State Park.

218. Saddleback Butte State Park.

219. Tomo-Kahni State Historic Park.

220. Tule Elk State Natural Reserve.

Source:

www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090528/ARTICLES/905289852

[The Big Dog]

You might have missed this thread at the PeeDee forum. You would find the following from me in the middle of page two.

Once again, Arnold tries to solve a problem by rattling his saber and scaring people.

Anyone know what the operating budget of the state's Department of Parks and Recreation is? You can find out a lot for yourself just by looking here. DPR is under "Resources".

For the FY09-10 budget proposed by Arnold, DPR is set up as follows. Dollar figures are in thousands, and total funds include state funds, federal funds, other non-governmental cost funds, and reimbursements.


Department of Parks & Recreation
3,370.9 headcount
$761,729 allotment of state funds
$842,374 total all funds

Now I'd wager that there is probably a little bit of featherbedding in DPR, so let's say we proposed a targeted, common sense work force reduction. Then let's look at the Integrated Waste Management Board... the political home of Carole "Hic" Migden, and an agency that has been widely identified as being utterly worthless and having absolutely no value add. What does Arnold propose to give to the IWMB this next year?

Integrated Waste Management Board
Headcount 478.6
$255,024 allotment of state funds
$257,304 total of all funds

478.6 government employees... including the $150K per year plus benefits commissioners, and a $25.7 million dollar price tag for it. In simple terms IWMB equals 30% or so of DPR's total budget going to only 7% of DPR's workforce by comparison.

Assume a ten percent RIF at DPR, because it's state employment and there has to be a pad. If I eliminate IWMB entirely (which it should be), I just kept the parks open and most likely well maintained. By eliminating one do nothing cesspool of a regulatory board that serves to keep old pols on the payroll and more state workers on the job.

In the immortal words of Stewie Griffin... what the **** man?

Wake up California. Don't just sit and whine... educate yourselves on what your elected representatives and their enablers, the public employee unions, are doing to you.

That was yesterday. Since then the thread has grown two more pages. I peeked into it a short while ago during lunch... and then left the following missive:

Pretty amazing... I posted facts and figures with a link to the state's budget and headcount in the middle of page two and pretty much the entire thread since has been people cyberpeeing on each other. That is, apparently, what passes for discussion of ideas in and around SoCo these days.

No small wonder why this state is in the shape it's in.

What say you, ma'am?

[capttankona]

May 29, 2009 13:47:21 GMT -5 JustMyOpinion said:

What the flip is Ahnold thinking?! As if Cauleefourneea isn't struggling enough to hold on to what makes it great (once upon a time). Not to mention that people can't affrod big trips this year and will need local parks to try and have some inexpensive fun in these difficult times. And, how would the parks be policed so that people don't use them, and if they do get used what about safety? This is dumber than dumb!

Source:

www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090528/ARTICLES/905289852

Thank you for the list. I need the acerage for each of these parks to prove a point. The Federal Government currently owns like 47% of California's 101,534,080 acres, that translates to 47,721,018 acres, which includes military bases, ranges, national parks, national recreation areas, national monuments, national memorials and national historic parks.

It does not include your list of 220 parks, State Forests or any State owned land.

I am compiling the list to prove a point. There are so many land set asides in California that it was the driving factor in the increase in home prices in California that outpaced the rest of the Nation starting in 1977. Prior to 1977, California was right in line with the rest of the National Average.

I am thinking cut more. Save us the tax dollars and put the land back into the public domain so it can be purchased.

[subdjoe]

Scare tactic plain and simple. This would be an insignificant drop in the bucket, as Big Dog pointed out. Cutting a few do nothing, payback to good ol' boy jobs (such as that Waste Commission that dear Carol is a part of ) would easily pay for all the parks.

He is trying to shock people in to getting off their asses and starting to yell at their reps in the legislative branch to actually cut some of the waste and burrocracy(sic). But no, they will sit on their asses, collecting their pay and perques (including that per deim) and not do jack.

Maybe a few of the leftists who are yelling could pool a bit of their money to fund some of the parks.

[The Big Dog]

May 29, 2009 15:07:30 GMT -5 capttankona said:

Thank you for the list. I need the acerage for each of these parks to prove a point. The Federal Government currently owns like 47% of California's 101,534,080 acres, that translates to 47,721,018 acres, which includes military bases, ranges, national parks, national recreation areas, national monuments, national memorials and national historic parks.

It does not include your list of 220 parks, State Forests or any State owned land.

I am compiling the list to prove a point. There are so many land set asides in California that it was the driving factor in the increase in home prices in California that outpaced the rest of the Nation starting in 1977. Prior to 1977, California was right in line with the rest of the National Average.

I am thinking cut more. Save us the tax dollars and put the land back into the public domain so it can be purchased.

Don't forget the tens of thousands of acres being put into publicly owned "land trusts". Another scam to fleece the taxpayer and remove productive ag land from the system.

If you ever want to just poop your pants... the federal government owns / controls 75% of the land area of the state of Utah. I believe the number is even higher in Nevada.

How much land does the government need to own outright... really?

[The Big Dog]

One other sidebar to JMO's list.... the one thing I don't see anywhere on it is any of the State Vehicular Recreation Areas (SVRA). Those lovely places like Carnegie SVRA, near Tracy, and Oceano Dunes SVRA at Pismo Beach. They can't be closed because they have a funding stream that neither the Legislature nor the Governor can touch.

Everyone who registers their "off highway vehicle" and gets the corresponding green or red sticker is paying directly into the operation of the SVRAs.

Nice to know the Legislature can get it right, once in a while. But when everything is said and done, the SVRA may be some of the very few parks left open.

[The New Guy]

actually, some of those parks listed really are a waste of money.

[JustMyOpinion]

Sorry for the delayed response, been very distracted. I don't have the zip to do research, but I don't have a problem with preserving CA's natural beauty. In my mind almost everything else that so wonderful about growing up here is fading away and nature is the last thing left that hasn't been significantly pillaged/raped/developed, tagged etc. It is true it increases real estate values but If you're a home owner that's really not so bad is it? I am sure we get screwed along the way, what a surprise! I still think closing the parks will have many negative and untended consequences and I don't think it is any kind of fix, just a Band-Aid on a hemorrhage.

[crossride]

Oh my, why does this not surprise me at all:

"Democrats have proposed a $15 increase in car registration fees to keep state parks open"

www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090618/ARTICLES/906189882/1349?Title=Spared-from-closure

[JustMyOpinion]

Well, until this state can find financial balance why not spare the parks by an increase? I know, I know, why should we pay even more?! To me the parks are useful to all of us and if we can hang on to them it would be worth the $15.

[The Avenger]

Jun 18, 2009 23:30:54 GMT -5 JustMyOpinion said:

Well, until this state can find financial balance why not spare the parks by an increase? I know, I know, why should we pay even more?! To me the parks are useful to all of us and if we can hang on to them it would be worth the $15.

Please tell me why yet another tax increase to save the parks would be fair to those who don't use the parks?

I'll help you answer that.... it isn't fair.

Why the hell can't the sorry ass legislators learn to work within a budget like you and me?

[capttankona]

Jun 9, 2009 19:05:26 GMT -5 JustMyOpinion said:

Sorry for the delayed response, been very distracted. I don't have the zip to do research, but I don't have a problem with preserving CA's natural beauty. In my mind almost everything else that so wonderful about growing up here is fading away and nature is the last thing left that hasn't been significantly pillaged/raped/developed, tagged etc. It is true it increases real estate values but If you're a home owner that's really not so bad is it? I am sure we get screwed along the way, what a surprise! I still think closing the parks will have many negative and untended consequences and I don't think it is any kind of fix, just a Band-Aid on a hemorrhage.

Unless it is one of your children or grandchildren, who have not had an opportunity to purchase a home in this great state. We are pricing our future generations out of their home state.

Not to mention that they want to dismantle propostion 13 so we can not leave our property to our children without huge increases in property values. That law was to protect the value for future generations, which is a good way to pass property onto our kids, keeping it in the family and preserving the ability of your kids to have property.