Illinois State Park/Historic Site Closures

I posted this in the Midwest forum, but thought you folks might be interested in this as well.

I know many of you do not live in Illinois, so you may not have heard of this, but our governor Rod Blagojevich is closing 11 state parks and historic sites across Illinois in order to cut down on spending. Here is a link to a map of the affected parks:

http://standingupforillinois.org/saveourparks/map.php

And here is a link to a petition anyone can fill out to ask that he reconsider this unwise move:

http://standingupforillinois.org/saveourparks/index.php

Those of you who live in Illinois or have visited may know how beautiful these parks are, and it would be a great shame to lose them. I apologize if this has been posted already- I looked through and could not find anything, but then again looking for stuff isn't my strong point.

The 11 state parks closing is in addition to the dozen or so (I think) historic sites. Many of these are related to President Lincoln, and it would be a shame to celebrate his 200th birthday by closing down these sites.

Thanks for any and all support!!

As an Illinois resident, I'm with you Nathaniel. I hate to see this happening and am afraid the closures will grow in scope as the economy keeps tanking further.

Nathanial,

Perhaps closing does not necessarily mean the state still does not own the areas.

It means only they will revert back to a natural condition until Illinois coffers are again full--hopefully.

Leaders are faced with major decisions in the econmic situation we now find ourselves. Deficit spending must stop. Most states are guilty.

The factions of special interests always promote their favorites to legislators and the largess donated to each becomes burdensome over time and not necessarily always in the public interest. Those who seek power in political office always make promises to such groups. That is the beginning and now your are seeing what becomes of prolifigate spending. Certainly the list is long and it must be shortened. That decision will ALWAYS make some people unhappy. Larry

I earned my PhD in Champaign-Urbana and very much enjoyed the state parks I visited as a grad student. I've sent an email to the save-our-parks above because I don't want current residents of Illinois to be deprived of what their taxes have paid for over the years; these public resources are the more valuable now that people's money for recreational expenditures is disappearing.

Thanks for the support. The thing that bugs me is that they haven't even tried to implement a state park fee or anything to raise revenue. I don't know about everyone, but I'd be fine with spending $30-40 a year on a state park pass if it would keep them open, and with all the fishing and hunting we have it would create quite a bit of revenue. As far as I know though, the parks will still be owned by the state...just not open to the public. Most of us Illinois residents who don't live in Chicago don't feel to kindly about our governor (and I'm not sure many that do live their are too happy with him, either)...mostly because he thinks that Chicago is the only part of the state that matters. Heck, I live in the capital and he almost never visits us....

Funding state parks is a big problem in California too. The gov. proposed similar closures here this year but was shouted down -- this time.