Support Free Republic.
Posted on 10/15/2013 11:26:50 AM PDT by don-o
Over the weekend, some nature lovers got the chance to wander the great federally funded outdoors again. Thanks to deals brokered with the federal government, some states dipped into their own cash to open their popular national parks, which closed its doors to visitors when the government shut down Oct. 1.
After a push from several governors, the Obama administration announced late last week that it would allow states to use their own money to pay for National Park Service operations. Shuttered parks were costing millions of dollars of revenue a day, state officials had argued. But keeping them open, even for just a week, isn't cheap. Still, for some states, salvaging a peak tourism season is worth it.
The decision is costing Utah the prettiest penny, at $1.67 million to keep five parks—Zion, Bryce, Arches, Canyonlands, and Capitol Reef, which opened Monday—running for 10 days. Next is Arizona, which will pay $651,000 dailoy to fund park operations at the Grand Canyon, which opened Saturday for at least a week. New York will pay $61,600 a day to finance the Statue of Liberty, which opened Sunday, until the shutdown ends. The governor's office had said more than 10,000 people were turned away each day that the popular site was closed.
Funding operations at Rocky Mountain National Park, which reopened on Saturday, will cost Colorado $362,700 for 10 days. Park operations at Mount Rushmore National Memorial will cost South Dakota $15,200 a day. The memorial saw 3,000 visitors when it reopened Monday, which state officials called average for a snowy October weekday.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationaljournal.com ...
It’s just so wrong.....especially if the Fed workers get back pay...which they will....cuz they always do...
We should not have Federal Parks. Or Federal Lands. Tedddy was so wrong.
Time for the Several States to seriously consider taking back their land and making these into State Parks!
The States will experience first hand just how much frickin' money the government WASTES.
I love our national parks, up to a point. Not sure, for example, what is so precious about the Santa Monica mountains that it deserves national attention, rather than local.
Great idea!
Mount Rushmore is a perfect example of the administration’s shutdown temper tantrum. There was no valid reason to close the monument. It is normally open 24/7 365 days a year. Shops and services operate various hours and dates, but the monument is always open.
However, the administration wanted to inflict pain on We The People. So it spent extra money on shutting down the monument. It also tried to restrict use of the state highway which accesses the monument. The arrogance was appalling!
By these illegal acts, the federal government has broken faith with the Sovereign State of South Dakota and relinquished all legitimate claim to the monument.
Time for South Dakota to take back its land. And rather than using the National Guard, use our own Park Service backed by State Troopers. They cannot be federalized as can the Guard.
Hard to count the money-wasting operations the federal government undertakes. But I can identify them. They are the one not specifically authorized by the Constitution.
We The People are overdue to demand and receive an accounting of how much of the federal code, budget, and operations are unconstitutional!
I have to drive through a national park on the way to work each morning. Slowly they have been placing their little barrycades up at different sections. Yesterday afternoon the brown shirts had placed a barrycade at one entrance of a scenic overlook. My wife saw it on her way home from work and railed for an hour about how mad it made her, she was furious. Her family 60 yrs. ago gave nearly 300 acres to the national park when it was first opened(her dad God rest his soul, used to sit and lament that his grandpa ever gave the National Park an inch of property).
This morning when I drove out to work someone must have been channeling her anger, the barrycade that ticked her off had been tossed over into the woods with only the tip of it visible.
Right on there DG. Should have been on the table fifty years ago.
The ball is in our court. No pun intended.
Kick the feds out and take over.
I plan to talk about this with my Rep.
If all freepers would maybe we can get a groundswell.
and I agree with whoever said that what is not listed in the Constitution shouldn't be under the Fed spending.
Exactly the right thing to do. We should all be proposing to our respective federal and state legislators about taking back the various lands belonging to We The People.
The federal government has never had a legitimate claim to these lands once they were within the borders of Sovereign States. Now that the federal government has proven unwilling to manage them in the best interest of We The People but has demonstrated its willingness to deny their use to We The People, it is time to restore true ownership to the Several States.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.