By Andrew Lam, New America Media
Standing on the corner of Mission and 16th, a mixed neighborhood of yuppies and the Latino working class, Carlos Lopez, 19, said he has heard of Mount Tamalpais State Park. But he thinks it is far away and is not sure how to get there. When told it is only about 10 miles north of where he was standing, he was a little surprised. The images of rolling hills and rocky shores shown on an iPhone stoke his imagination. “Man, this is nice,” he said. “Now I want to go.”
The fact that Lopez, who grew up in San Francisco, does not know where Mt. Tam is has become a major concern for those who care about the future of California’s state parks. In recent years, the parks have suffered some serious setbacks, from cuts in funding to charges of mismanagement of those funds. In 2013, park officers were found by an investigation of the state attorney general’s office to have knowingly kept funds worth $20 million dollars hidden, even though 70 of the state’s 280 parks were up for closure.
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