State won’t close parks, will cut their budgets instead

The governor’s office has announced it will not close California’s state parks, but will cut $12.1 million from their maintenance and equipment budgets, and $2.1 million by cutting days and hours of operation at some parks.

The LA Times reports that this is not exactly a reason to cheer:

The California State Parks Foundation, which has figured prominently in the struggle to keep parks open, responded to the governor’s plan suspiciously and placed this statement on its website: "While the Governor has found a clever way to get political cover on this issue, it’s not clear that this plan won’t actually leave Californians with just as limited access to their state parks as if they had been fully closed.

"The ‘found money’ here is from having less lifeguards on state beaches, not maintaining restrooms, not staffing parks for health and safety standards, etc. And you’ll see at the end of the release, a $22-million cut in next year’s budget is still on the horizon."