CA State Parks Dept sits on $54 Mil Reserve

[Andy]

How'd she fit all that under her mattress?

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/07/20/4645141/state-parks-director-resigns.html

Not really sure how I feel about this. In a way its good to see that a reserve IS possible. On the other hand the cynical side of me assumes that there were ill laid plans for all of this money. I just hope it goes back into parks that need it and not the general fund or hi-speed boondoggle etc...

[Hikin_Jim]

The thing that I think really ticks people off is that the parks were pleading with people for donations claiming that they were going to have to shut down if people didn't give -- when in fact they had a slush fund.

HJ

[neverwashasbeen]

I hope the money can be used to prevent what happened at Providence Mountains http://articles.latimes.com/2012/feb/25 ... s-20120225 from happening at other parks.

[Hikin_Jim]

I hope the money can be used to prevent what happened at Providence Mountains http://articles.latimes.com/2012/feb/25 ... s-20120225 from happening at other parks.

I hope the people who did that rot in hell, the pigs.

I was blessed to visit in 2010 (2009?). It is (was) a neat place. What a shame.

HJ

[Andy]

Wow that sucks! I was there a few years ago too and I cant believe that the state couldn't afford to pay an old retired desert rat to just hang out and keep a presence. ...for a lot less than $54 million!

[Perry]

I hope the people who did that rot in hell, the pigs.

At first I thought you meant the embezzling bureaucrats, but then I realized you meant the vandals and thieves.

I cant believe that the state couldn't afford to pay an old retired desert rat to just hang out and keep a presence. ...for a lot less than $54 million!

I like the idea, but I think they would have to pay a ranger or police officer and provide enough resources to take on a group of armed robbers.

[Andy]

Perry, I hear what your saying. But just having a set of eyes around makes a lot of difference, especially if it were the usual run of the mill opportunistic vandals/thieves. When a low-life is in the middle of no where with a cooler full of beer and lot of time on their hands... you know, the whole "idle hands are the devils best friend" and so forth. I think this is the reason you see all those unarmed geriatric security guards around construction sites. They can't physically do anything but there presence usually is enough to deter a second thought.

[HH8]

They can't physically do anything

They can still call in the cavalry

[Perry]

It's too bad the DWA wasn't watching the Mitchell Caverns.

[zippetydude]

Not a bad point. We all have our special areas where we are extraordinarily good. That Warren is not a bad sort - he's intelligent and personable and dedicated. I happen to think that his chosen area of enforcement is silly and a waste of his considerable competence. I also think he's a pain in the a$$, but I interpret that to be an inadvertent result of the poor alignment.

Picture if he were alone, in charge of watching a facility instead of the Holy DWA Property that was given them by God at the beginning of time. If he were supervising a park, especially if it was on a low budget and he was your only man, he'd keep such clear surveillance that they would be able to find lost hikers and stop idiot vandals with ease. How nice would that be!

So, yes, that sort of person, in the right circumstances, could play the roll of (instead of being an essentially ineffectual but dedicated individual trying to make sure that innocent hikers don't pee in a creek and create essentially zero risk to the public) protecting valuable property and helping the people who love those resources to use them safely. A misfire to be sure.

z