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Quoted from appended article from the New jersey press about proposed park privatization:
"Privatization doesn't usually help the parks. It does, however, often result in higher fees and less service"
I would have put it more strongly than the Sierra Club spokesperson, whose words I've quoted.
 Privatization of public parks is never in the public interest and, except for the fact that the public parks have been raising recreation fees so as to reduce to zero the price differential between public and private alternatives, privatization will always result in higher fees for access and use.
I would have also reminded my readers that for the next many years, if not decades, the anticipated consequence of the current financial meltdown will be the privatization of everything that is currently public and which might conceivably be profitably held or operated by the private sector.
Everything is at risk.
Price will be no object. The price of everything public will be slashed as much as is required to facilitate resource disposal.
Credit will be no object. Credit will be available to every would be privatizer willing to take public resources off the public's hands.
Users fees will be no object. The price of access will be adjusted upward until a sweet-spot is found such that the fewest visitors can be served at the highest possible rate of economic return.
And finally, I'd like to state emphatically that the current state of affairs to which we have now arrived is NOT George Bush's doing. 'Sure', it was President Bush who broke the bank with his failed policies and failed presidency. And 'yes', it will be a long time before America can dig itself out of the hole into which Bush has deposited it. But the pressure to reduce to private ownership and/or management, everything that was once public has been more than three decades in coming.
If public pushback does not begin pretty damned quickly and if that pushback is not more aggressive than is the push to privatize, then the rate of privatization that will be seen in the months and years ahead will likely give you whiplash.
Scott
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Lawmaker: Privatize parks to prevent closure
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS • April 5, 2008
TRENTON — A New Jersey lawmaker has suggested allowing private
companies to operate state parks in order to save the state money.
Assemblyman John S. Wisniewski, D-Middlesex, said it's a way to keep
open some state parks slated for closure this summer under Gov.
Corzine's austere budget.
Facing a multibillion-dollar shortfall, the state has proposed closing
nine parks and reducing services at three others. Eighty park workers
would lose their jobs.
It is estimated that closing the parks, including Monmouth Battlefield
State Park, would save the state about $4.5 million. About 2 million
people last year visited the parks targeted for closure.
Wisniewski said the state should request proposals from private
campground operators and companies that run recreation sites to get a
better sense of whether public-private partnerships could work.
He did not rule out raising user fees at the parks. The Department of
Environmental Protection has said it is reluctant to raise fees from
camping or swimming at state parks because the biggest users are low-
and moderate-income residents.
Keren Murphy, a parks and trails specialist with the Sierra Club, said
no state has privatized parks. But it has been done at the municipal
and county level.
"Privatization doesn't usually help the parks," she said. It does,
however, often result in higher fees and less service, she said.
In New Jersey, such a proposal would face significant regulatory
hurdles, which have been put in place to protect public lands from
abuse, said Jeff Tittel, executive director of Sierra's New Jersey
chapter.
He said there are better ways to raise the money to keep the parks open, like charging more to utilities that lease state lands.
Corzine's office also was lukewarm to the idea.
"The governor realizes these cuts in the budget are painful, and he is
open to listening to people who come forward with responsible ideas
that keep parks open," said his spokeswoman, Lilo Stainton. "But this
budget process is about making hard choices and suffering short-term
pain."
The park closures would take effect on July 1, the height of the busy summer season.
Other facilities affected include Brendan Byrne State Forest in
Burlington County, Worthington State Forest in Warren County and Round
Valley Recreation Area in Hunterdon County.
The state's environmental community has vowed to fight the cuts,
beginning with a protest planned for noon today at Round Valley in
Lebanon.
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