Re: RC: Public land use

[Lif Strand <fasterhorses@gilanet.com>]

At 12:26 PM 5/7/00 -0700, Lynne wrote:
> The parks are similar to schools, everybody
> pays a basic fee to have something that benefits society as a
> whole.  Those that want more, pay more.  Private school, horse
> campgrounds, seems the same to me.

Well, public parks to me are like public schools, not like private
schools.  I'd hate to think my kid had to pay an entry fee to walk
in the door of a public school & I don't see paying to walk in a
public park.  Once you've paid the basic fee (taxes) to establish
and maintain them, only *extraordinary* use should be charged for. 
Special events perhaps.  But to pay to merely go in.... wow! 

I do understand that some parks which are extremely heavily used might
need a system to regulate use, but even so, I do not understand entry
fees, and any system for use regulation should still not cost more for
the individual than the cost of the system itself.  I think most
park fees are like the toll for the Golden Gate Bridge - that bridge was
paid for a long time ago, and now the tolls that are collected are used
for other things than for the bridge itself.  

And as for our congress people - what they each have is a job, pure and
simple.  It's a job in public service.  If you are a clerk in
the government, you pay social security.  Our congress people are
not "special", they should be treated like anyone else.  I
think a lot of the problems with our government today have their source
in the fact that a lot of officials see themselves as being part of an
elite that is better and more privledged than you and me and the rest of
the working stiffs of this country.  Lif

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