|
A brand new budget-related scandal befell America's Crown Jewels today and it can be laid directly upon the Bush Administration and upon those persons occupying the topmost rungs within the National Park System, i.e.. Gale Norton and Fran Mainella.
Pasted below is an Associated Press version of the story. Additional details are available in the original news release. I suspect there's much MORE to this story than meets the eye.
The National Park Service has been taken over by ideologues and fanatic supporters of public-private partnerships, outsourcing and commercialization. My suspicion is that these political creature are in the process of creating a crisis within the NPS for which a very nasty free-market-based solution has already been formulated.
That being the case, here is a link to a message I shared back in June 2002. It was titled "NPS Director to Receive Privatization Award" and may be relevant. You'll see that back then I correctly sized up Ms. Mainella with respect to the Yellowstone snowmobile issue. I suspect I was equally correct with respect to the commercialization/ privatization of the National Parks. If so, we are witnessing a heist of mindboggling proportions.
Scott
PS...It will be telling to see how the NPS concessionaires Delaware North and Xanterra, the Travel Industry Association, and the American Recreation Coalition react to this breaking story. We should all eagerly await their press releases.
--- begin quoted ---
March 18, 2004
Park Service Cutting Budgets Quietly
By JOHN HEILPRIN - Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - National park superintendents are being told to cut
back on services - possibly even closing smaller, historic sites a
couple days a week or shutter visitor centers on federal holidays -
without letting on they are making cuts.
Former employees of the National Park Service, critical of how cuts are
being handled, released on Wednesday a memo e-mailed last month to park
superintendents in the Northeast from the Park Service's Boston office.
Among the memo's suggestions for responding to tight budgets this year
are to possibly shutter visitor centers on federal holidays or during
winter months, close parks Sundays and Mondays, and eliminate all
guided ranger tours and lifeguards at some beaches.
The memo also advises workers to warn officials if controversy arises over any changes they make.
``If you think that some of your specific plans will cause a public or
political controversy, Marie and I need to know which ones are likely
to end up in the media or result in a congressional inquiry,'' says the
memo sent Feb. 20 by Chrysandra Walter, the Park Service's deputy
director for the Northeast region.
Walter was referring to Marie Rust, the Park Service's director for the
Northeast region, who is based in Philadelphia. Walter also wrote that
she was relaying instructions from Randy Jones, the Park Service's
deputy director.
``Randy felt that the issuance of a press release was the most problematic,'' she wrote.
``He suggested that if you feel you must inform the public ... not to
directly indicate that 'this is a cut' in comparison to last year's
operation,'' she continued. ``We all agreed to use the terminology of
'service level adjustment' due to fiscal constraints as a means of
describing what actions we are taking.''
Neither Walter nor a spokeswoman for Rust responded to requests for comment.
Former park superintendent Denny Huffman, representing a group of
retired Park Service employees, and Jeff McFarland, director of a
professional association of park rangers, said the memo illustrates a
broader attempt to sugarcoat facts while stifling people.
``Make no mistake about it. There is a chill over the National Park Service today,'' Huffman said.
Separately, a parks advocacy group reported America's national parks
are underfunded by as much as $600 million a year, forcing severe cuts
that threaten resources and undermine visitors' enjoyment.
The National Parks Conservation Association said in its report that the
parks are getting just two-thirds of the funding they need, leading to
staffing shortages and a deterioration of park facilities.
National Park Service spokesman Dave Barna didn't dispute the memo's
authenticity or that it reflected an agency-wide trend. He said the
agency's aim was to avoid a public relations fiasco, and cuts would be
done judiciously; for example, the only parks to close on holidays or
weekends would be small, historic sites.
``All we're saying is, 'Let us know in advance so we know about this.
We don't feel it's necessary to have 380 parks out there whining about
their budgets,'' he said.
The Park Service's budget has steadily increased during the Bush,
Clinton and previous administrations, Barna said, but had to absorb $50
million in firefighting costs and $150 million in repair costs from
Hurricane Isabel last year.
Homeland security also is expensive - each change in the color-coded
threat level from yellow to orange costs the Park Service $1 million a
month, he said. That pays for 200 law enforcement rangers from the West
to guard monuments and memorials in the East, he said.
This year's Park Service budget is $2.56 billion, including $1.6
billion for operations. The rest is for building projects, acquiring
land, historic preservation and maintenance.
|
- Privatization 
