Parkway Supporters Prevent Raid of Funds by Sheriff

Last Minute Rally of River Activists Prevents Raid On Parkway Funds

by Dan Bacher

In a last minute rally of local river activists, 35 supporters of the American River Parkway attended the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors meeting on May 13 to stave off an attempt by the County Sheriff to divert $3 million proposed for the parkway.

The County had proposed to cut the parkway budget $633,000, a vast improvement over an earlier proposed cut of $4.4 million from a budget of about $5 million, during a "Quality of Life" hearing on May 6. The County found the $3,000,000 for the parkway through a windfall land sale.

However, river advocates received a tip from County insiders on May 12 that Lou Blanas, Sacramento County Sheriff, was planning to raid this fund to solve a shortfall in his department. The presence of Parkway supporters at the latest hearing apparently convinced the Board to hold firm on their tentative agreement to give the $3 million to the parkway.

"We feel good that the cuts are not as bad as they could be," said Alan Wade, president of the Save the American River Association (SARA), who spoke on behalf of the organization on May 13. "I look at the parkway budget glass now as 3/4 full rather than 3/4 empty."

Unfortunately, parkway funding for the upcoming fiscal year - July 1, 2004 through June 30, 2005 - is still not definitely secured because of projected cuts in state budget reimbursements to the County that loom over the County budget. "We could be back to square one because I don’t think the Governor understands the dire straits that the local governments are in," said Wade.

The Sacramento Bee on May 14 quoted Roger Niello, County Supervisor as saying, "When the other shoe drops (the state budget), we’re going to have to find additional money or make additional cuts, so we’ll be back here looking for creative solutions."

In the latest meeting, the Board approved a spending plan for the coming year with $17.9 million cuts for nearly every department. In early July, the Board of Supervisors is expected to make their final budget decisions after they are provided with information regarding the status of state budget reimbursements for county programs.

The failure of the Sheriff to raid the parkway fund is a great tribute to the hundreds of parkway activists who wrote letters, attended board meetings and called their Board members to urge them not to close the American River Parkway, the "crown jewel" of Sacramento County.

The parkway generates an estimated $259,034,030 in the local economy each year, according to the American River Parkway Financial Needs Study (August 10, 2000.) This includes direct spending by parkway visitors, the County of Sacramento and other operators involved in providing parkway services. The American River is one of the most heavily fished rivers in the state because of its large king salmon, steelhead, striped bass and shad runs.

"Our presence was noted and we managed to deter anyone from even suggesting that the 3 million dollars promised the week before should be shifted to someplace else," said Betsy Weiland, SARA activist. "Never doubt that it is our continued dedication to attending these hearings that is keeping the Parkway front and center in this budget crisis. We have lived to fight another day."

However, she emphasized, "Once the other shoe falls i.e. the state budget impacts, we will once again alert everyone if more action is needed to protect the Parkway funding."
Meanwhile, parkway advocates will be stepping up their efforts to search for alternative funding sources.

For more information and the latest action alerts, contact the Save the American River Association: http://www.sarariverwatch.org; email - riverwatch [at] comcast.net or sara5204 [at] pacbell.net; or phone (916) 383-1298. You can also contact the American River Parkway Foundation, P.O. Box 188437. Sacramento, CA 95818, (916) 456-7423, Fax (916) 455-4632, http://www.arpf.org.