Gov. Jerry Brown signs bill putting freeze on state park closures

[bemildred]

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation Tuesday setting a two-year moratorium on closing state parks in the wake of a scandal in which some parks officials hid surplus funds while facilities were threatened with being shuttered.

The legislation by Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield (D-Woodland Hills) was in response to the discovery in July that some parks officials had concealed about $54 million in unspent funds even as the governor was proposing to close 70 parks because of a budget shortfall.

"Rogue bureaucrats lied to all of us," Blumenfield said Tuesday. "The governor acted swiftly and appropriately to remove them. Now, after signing this bill, we can move forward."

The bill provides $10 million to match private donations to keep specific parks open, an additional $10 million to other parks at risk of closure, and a like amount to address

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-brown-bills-20120926,0,6678866.story

[ailsagirl]

1. Will any parks already shut down be reopened? Or is this legislation "going forward?"

Last edited Sun Sep 30, 2012, 10:33 PM - Edit history (1)

[pinto]

2. Don't see any mention of re-opening closed parks. Seems this bill and the $ oversight bill

are "firewalls" to prevent further closures and/or misuse of allocated funds.

[ailsagirl]

3. I'm glad the $ has been recovered

I've read that creative people have found other ways to finance the re-opening of some of the closed parks, through public donations and other means (I forget now specifics).