The state of the state

First it was the SF Botanical Garden, and now we hear that Schwarzi wants to shut down 85% of all California State Parks to pinch pennies because of the budget shortfall. I know we voted down all the ballot measures that would have helped make ends meet, but closing state parks?? Is that really what we've come to?

On the one hand, I don't want to be one of those impossible naysayers of the sort that peopled the public hearing on the Botanical Garden two weeks ago, gleefully booing and shouting no or holding up provocative signs during the meeting. I don't honestly believe that our predicament is such that shaving the top off of our legislators salaries would solve the mess we've gotten into. I don't think cutting a few jobs from Mayor Newsom's PR staff would magically create enough money to support Parks and Recreation and make up for the 500 (was it?) jobs cut from SF General Hospital. Though, if that were true, I wouldn't be opposed to pursuing it as an option.

It's true like they say that this is part of a bigger problem. It's not just about charging $5 for the Botanical Garden or giving the state parks a rest for a year or two. It's about more than the hit to stock market over the past 12 months. We haven't been spending money responsibly. I don't at all disagree with that, but it frustrates me when people aren't willing to be constructive. Saying we shouldn't have gotten into this mess doesn't help us get out of it.

I agree that it's fair for people to be upset when the services they want their taxes to support get cut. Maybe the Botanical Garden was the one thing you loved. Maybe hiking Mount Tamalpais means the world to you. Maybe you can't afford any other kind of vacation right now. For my own part, I think people have too little connection to nature and what I consider to be the real world as it is. Closing state parks sounds just meanspirited. After we lay off teachers and hospital workers, and close down parks, what is there left to save? Police, Fire, maybe transportation... I find that depressing.

Maybe I take responsibility to a fault, but I'm willing to do my part to make things better, whatever that may be. I'll pay $5 or $7 or even $50 to become a member of the Botanical Garden. I will scrape it together if that's what needs to be done. I signed the petition, but if I have to make reservations early to camp and hike at a National Park for the next three years while nature has its way with State Parks, I will do it. (I heard, by the way, that a lot of our State Parks have 25% of the predator population they should, and that a few years break might help them recover - not that everyone would think more mountain lions on Mt. Tam is a good thing). I know I might be better off than some people, but it doesn't have to cost money to help. I don't argue that we shouldn't let lawmakers know what our values are. Keep voting for education, keep signing petitions for parks, go to the public meetings, but don't just stand around and complain. Be part of the solution. If we all gave as much as we can, I think we'd make a lot more progress.