Aaron McLear, spokesperson for Gov. Schwarzenegger, announced that the administration is looking to reduce the number of parks that would be closed as a result of budget cuts to the parks department. Officials at the Department of Parks and Recreation estimate that more than 100 parks will be closed as a result of the cuts to their budget. McLear, however, argues that this is a gross miscalculation: "Right now, we are going through those books. We don't believe them. We believe we can close far fewer parks. It doesn't make sense to us that they have to close 100 parks to make those savings." California parks and beaches are one of the states leading tourist attractions and the state government is trying to save as many of the parks from closure as possible.
The cuts to the Parks budget are a result of the deal signed by Schwarzenegger to close the $24 billion budget gap this fiscal year. Although park officials were expected to inform the public last week of the parks and beaches to be closed, the announcement was postponed. The Parks department has yet to address the legal challenges presented by the closing of the parks: How will they keep trespassers off the closed parks? And more importantly, how will they respond to lawsuits brought forth by injured trespassers? One option would be to conduct regular inspections of the parks to ensure that they are in fact, empty. This approach, however, would require employees, which for obvious reasons are at a shortage.
