Tweet
Chris Blank of the AP writes about maintenance delays at state parks due to lack of funds:
At state parks across the nation, this is the toll of the deepening budget crisis and years of financial neglect: crumbling roads, faltering roofs, deteriorating restrooms.
Electrical and sewer systems are beginning to give out, too, as are scores of park buildings, some of them built by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression. In a few places, aging bridges have been detoured and tunnels blocked off because of falling debris.
The tough economy has made money scarcer for administrators at some of the country’s most treasured public spaces who have been forced to postpone maintenance and construction projects, creating a huge backlog of unfinished work that would cost billions of dollars to complete.
This is the necessary by-product of budget-slashing in the states. There’s no way to cut budgets to the degree needed, because of plummeting revenue during the Great Recession, without throwing state services into decay. Not only does this end up reducing jobs, as the maintenance workers get laid off, but it degrades the quality of state parks, which people adore and find crucial to their quality of life.
It’s very hard to counteract this. In California this year, there was an initiative on the ballot that would have raised the vehicle license fee a trivial amount – I believe $18 a year – to pay for operation of the state parks. State residents would even get something for that $18 – free access to the state parks for life for all vehicles with a California license plate. State parks in California are pretty beloved, and prior to the vote, most polls showed this passing. And yet it lost, and lost quite badly, 43-57. But I’m sure many of those 57% who would find it repressive to shell out 18 bucks a year will also be the ones grumbling about the dour quality of the bathrooms and roads in the state parks.
It’s a relatively trivial amount – $7 billion dollars – that would be needed to completely update the backlogged projects at state parks. A federal beautification project could put thousands of people to work, fix up spaces that everyone can use and enjoy, boost the economy and take a strain off of state budgets. But fat chance of that happening.
More generally, there needs to be some sort of way for states to maintain their efforts during budget crises, rather than engage in counter-productive budget-cutting or tax-increasing during a recession, which usually cuts against fiscal policy at the federal level. Some kind of debt swap or automatic stabilizer for the states, who are experiencing budget problems because of the national economy and not necessarily anything they did, would be desirable. Throughout the past two years, state cutbacks derailed stimulus measures. It’s time for that to stop, and a rethinking of the relationship between states and the federal government during recessions is needed.
23 Comments
Support this site!
Subscribe to the newsletter
Advertise on Firedoglake
Send
us your tips
Make us your homepage
About FDL News Desk
David –As a CA resident and someone who is politically up to the moment, you should be a little clearer about why people voted down the vehicle license park fee.
First, the bill clearly said that half of the money raised would to to offset $250 mil being taken from current parking funding, so we would only get half a loaf.
Second, the bill contained no provision requiring the legislature to continue with existing funding, meaning they could cut the entire rest of the parks budget and leave the park system with only the $250 mil from the license fee.
Third, a lot of people are philosophically opposed to tacking fees on to auto registrations that aren’t directly vehicle and transportation related. You want to have a dedicated revenue stream for parks, put that on the ballot. Californians over the past several decades have shown a willingness to approve bond measures for parks, acquisition and preservation of open space, etc.
Fourth, we’ve been fucked over too many times by bills that promised to use money (esp. increases in the gas tax or special bond measures) but then the state confiscated the money for other purposes. In fact, one of the ballot measures that did pass made it unconstitutional for the state to divert (read: confiscate, steal, loot) money from local governments and redevelopment agencies.
I’m a new member, hello all!
My father worked for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources for 17 years. I grew up on the state park system…I have a lot of great memories and as an adult I’ve revisited some of my childhood stomping grounds and it is very sad to see the state of disrepair.
Many of the amenities I enjoyed as a child were provided by the CCC, and the nostalgia is gone. The history has been lost and the parks that survive are the marketable ones. This article is a sad truth, and touched a part of me.
How many minutes of bombing Iraqistan can we buy for $7 billion? Where would you find the millions of people necessary to provide the muscle power?
There are millions waiting for work now. If something could be rerouted in DC to make sense our economy could gain. I just have no idea how to reroute the devilish plans of our leadership. They have the real numbers and they know, just choose to ignore it and give out false propaganda.
Just as the Jarvis-Gann supporters hoped, taxcut-mania is now in the marrow.
The loss of these parks in California is (or was) unthinkable.
I makes so much sense, of course it is not possible.
I agree with BeachPopulist. The proposition was a sleazy attempt to grab more money for the General Budget while offering up flimsy funding for parks.
Welcome to the Lake! I hope you will learn and enjoy this place as much as I do. You can even share with your own posts.
I’ve seen no evidence that what we are experiencing is a budget crisis or a recession, i.e, a period of general economic decline. Seems like it’s a bit more than a crisis or a period to me, more permanent, which implies permanent not temporary fixes.
The feds don’t have the money. The US daily deficit is four billion dollars. The new congressional appropriators in the House, looks like, are not about to give the states money they don’t have.
They just “misplaced” 9 billion in Iraqi reconstruction funds. Take it from the damn pentagon budget.
Hi, snowdrifter. Glad to have you aboard.
Me too, I agree with BeachPopulist. His explanantion shed a little more sunshine on the bill. A state tourism attraction as well as a place for folks to go relax. Maybe the Ca Conservstion Corps and homeless folks that need work and direction could do that repair work as a lot is labor.
I have enjoyed those Ca parks for years… Our good republican leaders continue to starve state government by the ridicules 2/3 need to pass new taxes… gotta keep heir rich friends even richer as all of our state crumbles… Soon there will be NO publicly owned parks if the republicans get their way…
California parks are very special to us, although I imagine that others feel that their parks are special, too. I can’t imagine them being turned over to for-profit money grubbers and destroyed. I can’t imagine a world that is totally for sale.
It’s time to stop avoiding the obvious, taxation is not bad nor evil. What you decide to do with taxes collected makes the spending smart or dumb.
The Republican narrative must be changed to a Democratic narrative; taxation to maintain the American way of life is a good thing for jobs, the economy, and for our country.
Given that most parks in CA are inaccessible without a car, I voted for the prop.
Beside which, $18 a year is damned little money, compared to what we’re going to be paying a few years down the road when the bridges collapse from decay and the highways are cull of potholes big enough to stop trucks.
There is no single Republican narrative on taxation and most Republicans will agree with your first statement wholeheartedly (though they may differ as to what you categorize as smart or dumb).
Many Republicans feel that government programs are generally and fundamentally inefficient and almost always the wrong way to solve a problem. Most Republicans, however, accept taxation for very specific things: national defense and infrastructure, for example. Many other Republicans are at least potentially open to higher taxation but have an ideological problem with a progressive tax scheme, feeling that it is inherently unfair and creates a moral hazard (the flat tax crowd).
The very last part of your post is important, IMO. Many Republicans – rich, poor, and in between – define “the American way of life” by the mantra: “Work hard, live within your means, and if you want a better life, it’s all up to you”. A more cynical corollary to this mantra is: “Nothing is promised to you in this world… but you live in America, the land of opportunity… there are billions of people around the world who would gladly switch places with you… if you can’t find the life you want here, you are free to go anywhere you think you can do better.” It’s a philosophy that many of us (from the left and right) had beat into us by our parents.
I don’t claim to have an easy answer that fixes everything instantly and I am HIGHLY skeptical of any solution that would fit in a single post. These problems are hard and they are a long time in the making.
Would increased taxation do the trick? Maybe. But it may also be temporary and hasten the loss of jobs as companies continue to leave because we have become less critical on the world stage. As an example (according to Robert Reich) General Motors’ foreign sales are already twice their domestic sales and it makes more cars in China than in the U.S. (so why did we bail them out instead of the Chinese?). We have seen this at the State level in California and it’s not clear to me why it wouldn’t also apply between nations… if you raise taxes on those who can leave, they will leave – and those who remain will be generally worse off. Massive re-training is one option but that will take years. Deficit spending is another option and so long as there are others out there willing to buy our debt, we can play that game.
For many (Republicans and Democrats), it has become clear that the United States cannot maintain its current level of spending. Things are changing and those who are unable or unwilling to adapt are going to be hit the hardest.
If government is SO INEFFICENT why did government have to BAIL OUT WALL ST with TENS OF TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS?
Just wondering…
“’s a relatively trivial amount – $7 billion dollars –…”
Notably, this is less than one month’s war spending.
Very, very sad. Pretty sure that we’ll see parks sold off to developers and/or otherwise privatized.
I visited a state park in Texas recently that had private vendors instead of park rangers to operate park tours. Towards the end of the tour, it was mentioned that gratuities were accepted and appreciated. I thought it was a joke, but sure enough the dude was standing there with his hand out and some folks were giving him money.
I did not have a parent work for ODNR but my dad did consult on accessibility concerns for ODNR and for many metro parks. I visited a number as a child. About ten years ago, we began to notice decline in Ohio parks. However, the last six years have been the worst. The sad part is that the state park system use to be a large tourist industry and economic boost for Ohio. As state parks crumble, the economic loss becomes greater. Some of the nearby small towns to state parks are suffering greatly due to park decline. We stayed at one of the resorts at one of the state parks a few years ago and we were disappointed in the cleanliness despite the great location. I will say the Easter brunch at the Mohican State Park Lodge is still fantastic and it is one lodge which seems to still be in good shape.
@GlenJo – That’s a good question and the Conservative response – though not necessarily every Republican’s response – is simple and direct if somewhat unrealistic given Washington’s realpolitik: Wall Street should NOT have been bailed out. Neither should the auto manufacturers, Big Pharma, or even the MIC. There are times when some inefficiency is acceptable for national security reasons, but most conservatives do not see any of the recent bailouts in that context. The risk of failure is a critical aspect of functioning markets and bailing out private enterprises destroys that aspect.
Crony capitalism, where powerful political players grant competitive advantages in exchange for financial support, prevents markets from working properly. The government contributed to the financial meltdown through its recent behavior, but SOMETHING was going to break due to the governments historical and ongoing interference in markets. Note: I’m not talking about regulation (in general) which changes a market’s landscape for all concerned – I’m talking about government participation (which may be reflected in selective regulation).
It may happen in Sacramento County this month. A 365 acre park, Gibson Ranch, is being given to a developer friend of the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors for $1.00 a year for 10 years to do whatever he would like to do to earn a profit for himself. He will receive $500,000 for “improvements” within the next five years. After some time he will begin to split his profits with Sacramento County. If this goes by without protest, they will continue to give away the rest of Sacramento County parks. I am very upset.