Save California Parks by providing local control
The closure of California state parks endangers the livelihoods of nearby communities as many small businesses rely on the income generated by park tourism. Communities surrounding parks could establish cooperatives, where the people who work at the park would be funded by park entrance fees. Workers could live at the park in exchange for taking lower pay.
Workers would be chosen by a governing board, at the outset. Once established, the workers themselves would choose new workers based on commitment and knowledge of the park. In this way, those who work there would have a stake in the park as well as the community. To assure that park professionals would have a role, their applications would receive priority treatment.
Title to the park itself would remain with the state, but the revenues would stay with each park. It may be necessary to institute or increase entrance fees to make this model work, but it would be far better than either facing the closure of our parks or turning parks over to the private sector.
Keep our state parks in public hands and keep our communities thriving!
We the undersigned agree that a simple solution to keep our parks open and out of private hands is available. The communities who benefit from the parks and the people who love them can work together by forming Park cooperatives. Workers would take responsibility for the parks and community leaders would choose local qualified staff who would take lower pay in return for living on park lands. Current park staff would receive priority placement should they so choose. The devastation to local communities and the small businesses who depend on park tourism can be avoided using this relatively simple solution. Sign on now! Forward to your legislators as well!
