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Arizona Senate Votes to Lease State Parks

by on Mar. 04, 2010, under Politics

State Parks

State Parks

As a strategy to avoid closing state parks the Senate has okayed a bill to lease state parks to private concessionaires.

In addition to enabling the leasing of state parks the bill outlines what may be in the proposals submitted by potential vendors. Requests for proposals shall be broadly construed to allow for for:

1. One hundred per cent privately funded parks through contributions, fees or corporate sponsorships.

2. Facility enhancements, including lodging facilities, retail facilities, equipment rentals and amusement facilities.

3. The management of multiple park facilities.

4. Changing the purpose or function of an existing state park.

5. Any other innovation that facilitates the mission of a publicly-owned park.

Note that there is no requirement that current entrance fees remain the same…and who would expect it? It was expensive building that hotel and amusement facility. Need to change the purpose or function of an existing state park? Make us an offer we can’t refuse.

Now that the beast is dying we can lop off its more attractive parts and lease them to corporate America.

Text of Senate Bill 1349.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 4th, 2010 at 3:22 pm and is filed under Politics. Tags for this post: , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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  • leftfield

    And once that camel has his nose in the tent, it will be near impossible to get him out.  The State Parks will no longer belong to the citizens of Arizona and their progeny. 

  • Aaron

    Absolutely not.  Manage the budget in a way that allows the people’s property to be taken care of – including looking at the tax side – and do NOT privatize Arizona’s treasures.  These legislators will stop at nothing.  This is our state, not Grover Norquist’s.  Keep it that way.

  • tiponeill

    Do you think we could get much if we leased out the Senate ?

  • Aaron

    No, we’d have to pay someone to take ‘em.

  • Thomas D.

    So what will they do with the historic parks like Tubac, Ft. Verde. Yuma, etc. They dont make enough to have a vendor run it. I bet the sites they are interested in are the boatdocks, Colorado River sites, etc.
    And at the historic sites who will own and secure the artifacts?? The State parks have always wanted to unload the historic sites. What happens to the State Parks employees?

  • Thomas D.

    I take it from the lack of comments that most people just don’t care. We get what we deserve.

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