The proposed tuition increases have been modified but the plan seems en route to enactment. The argument for user fees is straightforward, as articulated in a policy brief by the conservative Washington Institute Foundation. In other words, charge more at popular parks. A very different perspective on user fees came from former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, during a recent Seattle visit. We are moving away from a progressive tax structure in this country and toward a more repressive system of fees.
User fees place an extra large burden on people who can less afford it.
In such a society, getaway places are vital. At Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park, on the old highway down from Ellensburg to Vantage in Eastern Washington, there is a stone visitor center built in the 1930s by Civilian Conservation Corps work crews. I've never been in it. The visitor center is usually closed, bringing a question to mind. The Parks Commission is struggling to see that the Legislature doesn't take day-use fees as an excuse to cut the State Parks Department's already minimal General Fund budget.