Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

As anyone who lives in California knows, our legislature has spent money we
don't have for years, hoping that THIS year's revenue will cover the excessive
spending.  And, mostly it has.  But now we are in a situation where the red ink
is SO astronomical and we taxpayers have made it SO clear that we won't pop for
more taxation, that Sacramento FINALLY understands the jig is up.  Spending must 
be cut... and drastically.

And everything is on the table.  Have you seen the ads on TV by home healthcare
professionals?  I'm not sure exactly how they expect those ads to translate into
a restoration of funding for home care but THEY certainly think the ads will 
work.

Everyone wants THEIR funding protected and their projects untouched.  Maybe
those who bitch the loudest will be heard but the bottom line is that the well
is dry.  There is not enough revenue to cover a huge percentage of previously
free pass spending.  Welfare, parks, salary increases (Ha!  THE VOTERS PASSED
THAT ONE!), teachers, medical support, police, fire, you name it.  The MONEY IS
NOT THERE.

So, let us horse people make lemonade.  Don't ask for funding to be sustained.
Ask what it will take to keep the parks open.  Ask what WE can do to keep the 
parks open.  Do we NEED rangers?  Well they are nice to keep down criminal 
activities but to ride the trails, do we NEED a law enforcement presence?  If 
you have a government takes care of me, cradle to grave mentality, then yes. 
You need "the law" at every corner.  Me?  I think we can ride the trails without 
them.  But what DO we need?  Contact your local horsemen's group get them to ask 
that question of the right people and then try to formulate a response.  "Parks" 
have existed for a very long time.  We the People can keep our parks open.

And what if the state stonewalls us?  Well, what does "Closed" mean?  A barbed
wire fence around the parks?  Armed sentries at every entrance?  As Kathy 
pointed out, who's going to stop us from riding there?  If there's no money for 
the parks, then who will pay the hundreds of rangers patrolling thousands of 
miles of trails just to issue a citation to anyone caught "using" the park? 
[Snide aside:  We ride Endurance horses.  Don't look but hey...  they can't 
catch us :)]

Again... the parks/land have been there a long time.  They weren't always
"supported" by the state.  If keeping the trails open means more volunteering, 
is that really a bad thing?


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