Uneasy Rhetoric

Everybody knows Sacramento is a boring town (I’m generalizing - bear with me). Ask anyone who grew up here whether they wanted to leave. Most would say yes.

However, there are a few things that make Sacramento, despite its miserable car culture and lack of significant urban planning, quite livable. One is the sheer quantity of trees. The other is the crown jewel of its parks, the American River Parkway.

Sadly, California’s continued budget woes, which affect local governments thanks to the fact that local governments depend on so much state pass-through funding, may mean the end of the Parkway, or at least the end of the Parkway as a recreational destination.

Parkway in peril, Sacramento Bee.

No doubt thousands will be up in arms. There is a suggestion to create a special taxing authority (basically a Sacramento County Park Authority) to pay for the Parkway. I seriously doubt it would succeed, given the current anti-tax atmosphere. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the people who use the Parkway never made the connection between its existence and their taxes.

Some probably already believe it is run by “volunteers.” This is often the so-called “solution” when public parks are in peril. Hand it over to volunteers. Who is going to coordinate the volunteers? Will the volunteers also be expected to pay for the toilet paper in the restrooms, the asphalt when the bike trail needs repairing, or the garbage dumpsters for cleanups? Already volunteers from the Sacramento Tree Foundation and other organizations take responsibility for cleaning up parts of the trail and for planting trees.

I don’t doubt the County could shave a little off of its $4.2 million budget by intensifying the use of volunteers, but without significant public investment, the Parkway will still stagnate, become a less welcome and less safe place to visit, and slowly rot.

Need I remind everyone what is the most efficient way to make a significant public investment for the greater public good?

Taxes.