Just a 3 mile drive
from Santa Monica, Topanga State Park is 2.5 times larger than
that city. It was visited 470,000 times last year, and the Governor
thinks it should be closed!
Schwarzenegger's Proposal
To close a projected California state budget
deficit of $16 billion,
Governor Schwarzenegger has proposed a 10% across-the-board reduction
for state agencies. The total budget amount - $101 billion.
If this passes, 7000 state employees will lose their jobs in
the next 18 months.
State Parks has been forced to draw up plans
to close 48 parks and cut seasonal employee hours in half.
Although savings of $17 million is expected, closures will
cause a loss of income of almost $4 million. Last year
the public visited the parks listed for closure 6.5 million
times.
Three parks close to us are on the closure list - Los Encinos
State Historic Park (located at Balboa and Ventura in Encino),
Topanga State Park (in the Santa Monica Mountains) and Will Rogers
State Historic Park (entrance via Sunset).
We are still a bit stunned and wholly outraged. The state park
system is to be decimated over just $14 million! We're not here
to say where the money should come from, just that it should be
found. California CAN afford it's entire State Park system.
Assembly Bill 2392, which would have started the process to
sell the closed parks has been completely changed to serve the
legitimate conservation purpose of protecting the California Condor,
our enormous and threatened vulture. So ONE threat to our parks
is gone, for now. But this experience showed
us where the tax-cut folks and their big money allies, the developers,
are headed. And what can happen if we don't speak up - we could
lose Topanga to subdivision.
Schwarzenegger has an enormous budget problem. We can take this
seriously or we can waste time -
- guessing about the Governor's real motives,
- believing that he can't really be serious,
- waiting for the Legislature to do the right thing,
- ignoring the permanent damage that can be done to
State Parks,
- imagining how we personally will get into the park anyway,
- ignoring the risks of injuries and fires in an unprotected
park?
Or, are we going to defend our parks? Let's take action to
- protect our own beautiful Topanga State Park,
- make common cause with our neighbors at Los
Encinos & Will Rogers State Historic Parks
- join the statewide Save Our State Parks campaign
- protect the natural and historic conservation purpose of
all state parks,
- protect the long-term financial viability of the state park
system.
What's At Stake?
- CLOSED: 50 mi. of trails
for hikers, mountain bikers, runners & equestrians
- CLOSED: 18 miles of the famed
Backbone Trail
- CLOSED: Unique outdoor classroom
for 1000s of schoolchildren
- LOST: 700,000 visitor trips
past businesses near Topanga/Will Rogers
- RISKED: Damage from unsupervised
visitors
- RISKED: Sale of parklands
(legislation recently introduced)
- RISKED: Long term survival
of State Park system
Frugality At California State Parks
California State Parks has a 25 year history of staff and funding
cuts in response to state budget crisis.
A first response, begun during the fiscal crisis
of the 1980s, was to temporarily put off maintenance to roofs,
bathrooms, roads, fences and trails. What was supposed to be
a temporary delay has become permanent. The department estimates
the cost to complete deferred repairs at about $1 billion. Periodically the legislature
addresses the backlog as it did with a one time $250 million
appropriation in 2006/2007. It seems like a lot of money unless
you understand that the backlog will increase about $117 million
this year.
During a budget crisis in the 1990s, California
State Parks cut 572 positions and 30% of managers and supervisors.
Over the last five years General Fund revenue has been reduced
by $65 million
and only partially replaced with fees and transfers. The net
result has been a $10.5 million loss of revenue to the department
during that time. In 2003/2004 California State Parks eliminated
90 more positions and moved field staff out of leased buildings
into modular units on State property.
The proposed cut for 2008/2009 is $13.3 million out of a
total budget of $149 million. Staff will be cut by 136 permanent
positions and 100,000 seasonal hours will be eliminated. The
department has been authorized to have 2,467 permanent staff
and approximately 2,700 seasonal staff.
To give a sense of the scale of these cuts,
California State Parks estimates that in 1990-91 they spent
$4.16 per park visit. The 2008/2009 budget proposal will bring
that down to $2.80 per visit in inflation-adjusted 2006-07
dollars. People may talk loosely about "waste and fat in government," but
they'd be wrong to talk that way about California State Parks.
Closing Topanga State Park Hurts Real People
According to the California State Park System
Statistical Report, our park gets almost half a million visits
a year. Only 13 of the 134 California State Parks and State
Historic Parks get more visitors. Why does the Governor want
to close such a popular park? You know some of the tens of
thousands of people who’ll
be hurt: children on field trips and scouting expeditions, joggers,
hikers, picnickers, equestrians, mountain bikers, families, neighbors:
in other words you and me. We’re the people who worked
hard to get this park in the first place!
Can 13,000 Acres Of Wilderness Park In Los Angeles
Really Be Closed?
Our park’s 30 mile boundary is unfenced. Only the parking
lots have gates. It’s accessible from the Backbone Trail,
the unpaved portion of Mulholland, and hundreds of back-yards.
People can’t really be kept out with fewer staff. What
are the risks from unsupervised visitors? Is it fire-safe? What
will be lost when maintenance is cut back? How can this actually
save money?
Topanga is so beautiful this spring.
Here's a link to an excellent show of photographs
taken at Topanga State Park by photographer Gary Valle (who joins
us in opposition to any State Park closures). Thanks to Gary
for showing why we love this place.
It's not just Topanga State Park!
Five Parks to be Closed in LA County & Four
Beaches in Orange County.
The five parks: Topanga State Park
in the Santa Monica Mountains (12,666 acres of wilderness);
Will Rogers State Historic Park in Pacific Palisades (189 acres & Rogers
history); Los Encinos State Historic Park in Encino (living
history); Pio Pico State Historic Park in Whittier (school
tours); Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park in Chatsworth
(671 acres of wilderness). The beaches are Bolsa Chica, Doheny,
Huntington, and San Clemente. San Onofre State Beach, actually
located in San Diego County, is also listed for closure. Here's
a list
of all 64 beach and park closures by County.
None of these parks should be closed!
Who are we?
We're a group of private citizens
and Topanga Canyon Docents asking California's Governor and
Legislature to keep Topanga State Park, Will Rogers State
Historic Park and all California's State Parks and Beaches
OPEN.
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