<!--Don Glynn--><table width="234" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" background="http://static.cnhi.zope.net/flashpromo/niagaragazette/images/byline_234x60.jpg" height="60"><tr><td><div align="center"><font size="3" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">By Don Glynn</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br /></font><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="mailto:don.glynn@niagara-gazette.com">don.glynn@niagara-gazette.com</a></font></div></td></tr></table>
Visitors to the statewide parks system during the 2010 season should expect to pay more to enjoy the facilities, including higher fees at golf courses and to rent picnic pavilions.
State Parks Commissioner Carol Ash attributed the planned fee increases to the drastic budget action in Albany that has resulted in cuts of up to 40 percent in the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
Barring a dramatic reversal in the projected 2010-11 state budget, the higher fees at some targeted parks are inevitable.
As park officials confirmed last month, an undetermined number of the 178 parks and 35 historic sites in the statewide system will be closed or left operating on reduced schedules.
Asked which specific parks might be closed, Ash said her office was working on the matter and might release a list within a matter or days. She conceded that Assemblywoman Francine DelMonte, D-Niagara Falls, was justified in her recent request that the list of closings be available as soon as possible.
On a positive note, Ash said Gov. Paterson’s budget provides $20 million in capital expenditures for two major projects within the Niagara Region: funds on design work for a new pedestrian bridge to Goat Island and $1.1 million to upgrade the long-delayed improvements to the sewer system in Fort Niagara State Park, Youngstown.
When it was closed several years ago — due to concrete pieces underneath the 109-year-old span falling into the rapids — engineers quickly installed a military-type bridge over the entire structure, allowing tourists to still walk between the mainland and Goat Island. All vehicles including the state park scenic trolley fleet have been re-routed to the American Rapids Bridge upstream.
In other action during the 40-minute media briefing at the Prospect Park administration headquarters:
n Andy Beers, executive deputy commissioner, noted that prior to the recent budget slashing, the park agency’s overall operating budget had been cut by 25 percent. He also said that 85 percent of the agency budget is spent on running the parks.
n Ash emphasized that before any decision is reached on which parks will be closed, her agency needs to know what the Legislature approves in terms of full budget requests.
n Mark Thomas, western district director for the parks commission, said swimming facilities will be closed this summer at Woodlawn Beach State Park, Hamburg, and at Lake Erie State Park in Chautauqua County.
n Thomas also said that tighter restrictions imposed at the border — requiring passports or other secure documentation — have actually helped boost the number of visitors to the state park here. It is believed that many visitors preferred to stay on the U.S. side rather than deal with any problems with traffic delays or inspections at the international crossings.
