July 29, 2011

Dear Governor Jerry Brown:

The scheduled closure of 70 state parks, one fourth of the entire park system, would irretrievably rob Californians of the basic right to enjoy what they own. As Donald W. Murphy, former director of California State Parks, recently wrote: “Access to natural and cultural resources that are owned by the people is a fundamental right. I assert it is a natural right, just like life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” We agree. These planned closures must be stopped.

If California abandons our parks, these precious lands and historic sites will be vandalized. Privatization will follow. Almost every one of California’s state parks was created through donations and/or citizen action, as Peter Dangermond, another former parks director, points out. They were created with the understanding that they will be protected in perpetuity for the benefit of all.

Our state parks draw 70 million visitors a year from throughout the state, the nation, and the world, bringing jobs and major economic benefits to local communities, where visitors spend over $4 billion a year. For every general fund dollar spent on the state park system, $2.35 comes back to the general fund in taxes.

We urge you to secure the future of California State Parks as public spaces controlled and managed by public agencies. We urge you to keep the parks open now to prevent their destruction while long term plans take shape. “The budget cut that is now forcing park closures represents less than 1 cent per California resident per week,” according to Mr. Dangermond. That’s one penny per week to save 70 of our state parks.

Dennis Antenore, Pierre Freysee, Rasa Gustaitis, Kathy Howard, Richard Ivanhoe, Linda Litehiser, Elias Moosa, Denis Mosgofian, Andrea O’Leary, John Rizzo, Mary Spoerer

Take Back Our Parks www.takebackourparks.org

TAKE BACK OUR PARKS is an alliance of San Franciscans dedicated to keeping our parks and recreation facilities open and equally accessible to all people.