California is facing a $24 billion shortfall on general
fund expenses of $92 billion. It's a big problem, and this past week,
the Democratic effort to push a partial solution through the legislature
failed. That solution involved cutting all general fund support for
state parks in exchange for funding by the State Park Access Pass plan.
The effort passed out of committee but failed when it came to a vote
in the legislature. If it hadn't, the governor said publicly he'd use
his veto. Anyway we're back to square one on a budget. The controller
says he'll start paying bills with IOUs July 2, so we're going right
up against deadlines with serious negative consequences. At this moment,
there is no active public proposal for park funding (or for park cuts).
Are we done? Are parks safe from closure? Don't kid yourself. The thinking
in Sacramento is to spread the pain around. We expect this will mean
a renewed proposal in the next few days to close parks. You know what
that will mean to our communities. Please help us keep the pressure
on.
3 simple things to do RIGHT NOW
1.
Send an eMessage to your
legislators. Tell them you want all our state
parks to stay open, whatever the funding mechanism. Visit http://ga3.org/campaign/budget_dontclose
to send an email.
2.
Make a phone call your legislators'
offices. And the governor's office.
Tell them you want, need and love your state parks, that you want
all the parks stay open, and that you'll pay your fair share.
The governor's Sacramento office number is 916-445-2841. You will
not be the only one calling. Look up your legislator's phone numbers
at: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html
3.
Contact the "Big 5" leaders, who negotiate
the state budget.
You don't need to say much beyond telling them you want our
parks kept open. Please be respectful. This link opens an email
and below is suggested text you can copy. Change it any way
you want.
For the safety and liveability of our communities, please
vote to keep all California State Parks open. I like the State
Park Access Pass proposal, but any plan for full funding is
OK. I love our parks!
4.
Hand out fliers. To
your friends, at a park, at the grocery store, leave them at
a coffee house. Use your imagination and initiative.
Here's the front
side as a 64K PDF file, and the back
side here is 48K. We're copying them on bright yellow paper
and having the copy shop cut them in four.
5.
Keep up-to-date. Check
back here. Visit http://savestateparks.org/
for updates. If you need the inside scoop on the political action
and you're on facebook, visit the fanpage for Friends of Santa Cruz
State Parks, they have excellent paid staff working
on this issue.
6.
Get some background.
Read what local parks are listed for closure by the Governor and
what's at stake here.
7.
Become a fan of the Save Topanga
State Park cause on facebook.
These photos of park supporters were taken June 21st
at Topanga and Will Rogers.
And here's local TV coverage.
