Missed connection

[jhr]

@MattAune 66207 wrote:

It sure seems like a political agenda to me.
http://dailycaller.com/2013/10/02/monuments-and-memorials-remained-open-during-previous-shutdown/

The NPS is clearly pissed at having to furlough their empoyees, and rightfully so, but taking out on the american taxpayer and tourists is going to far IMO.

Is that page really correct, though? Searching for news articles from 1995 I found:

Quote:

U.S. PARKS, OFFICES ARE PADLOCKED NO END IN SIGHT TO THE BUDGET STANDOFF
They locked up the Lincoln Memorial again and shut down Biscayne National Park as the budget deadlock between President Clinton and the Republican Congress went on Monday, with no sign that it will end soon.

http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=MH&s_site=miami&p_multi=MH&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB4D2FDB76835BA&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM

So, even though the Daily Caller links to an article talking about people being able to go into the Lincoln Memorial, I’m guessing it was actually like the current situation with the parks technically closed and blocked off, but with it being possible to walk around the barriers at some points.

[lordofthemark]

@Terpfan 66205 wrote:

The easier solution appears to be posting that people use the trail at their own risk

So when my wife and I wanted to go winter hiking in SNP, and they shut Skyline drive cause of snow, rather than just inform us of the risks, that was political?

NPS has a difficult job under current circumstances, and will be damned if they do, and damned if they don’t. If folks are angry about lack of access to parks, the place to take that anger is the folks who could change the situation overnight with a simple vote.

[jrenaut]

@lordofthemark 66209 wrote:

So when my wife and I wanted to go winter hiking in SNP, and they shut Skyline drive cause of snow, rather than just inform us of the risks, that was political?

NPS has a difficult job under current circumstances, and will be damned if they do, and damned if they don’t. If folks are angry about lack of access to parks, the place to take that anger is the folks who could change the situation overnight with a simple vote.

There is a pretty consistent anger at NPS here, regardless of government shutdown, because of the way they generally treat cyclists. I would be much more willing to give them the benefit of the doubt now if they were more pleasant under normal circumstances.

[baiskeli]

@MattAune 66207 wrote:

It sure seems like a political agenda to me.
http://dailycaller.com/2013/10/02/monuments-and-memorials-remained-open-during-previous-shutdown/

I don’t think that article tells the whole story of the last shutdown.

In any event, just because they’re doing it differently this time doesn’t make it political. Nor does it really matter – one shouldn’t expect any access to any government services or property when the government shuts down.

[baiskeli]

@jhr 66208 wrote:

So, even though the Daily Caller links to an article talking about people being able to go into the Lincoln Memorial, I’m guessing it was actually like the current situation with the parks technically closed and blocked off, but with it being possible to walk around the barriers at some points.

Yeah, I saw people doing that last week when I rode by, until a ranger shooed them out. He told them they could get in with a first amendment permit and how to get one.

[dasgeh]

@lordofthemark 66209 wrote:

So when my wife and I wanted to go winter hiking in SNP, and they shut Skyline drive cause of snow, rather than just inform us of the risks, that was political?

NPS has a difficult job under current circumstances, and will be damned if they do, and damned if they don’t. If folks are angry about lack of access to parks, the place to take that anger is the folks who could change the situation overnight with a simple vote.

I just don’t understand what the justification is for closing the MVT but not the GWMP

[jhr]

DismalScientist created a new thread for NPS rants.

[mstone]

@lordofthemark 66209 wrote:

NPS has a difficult job under current circumstances, and will be damned if they do, and damned if they don’t.

More specifically, there’s a very good chance under the current political climate that if senior people at NPS simply ignored the shutdown, they’d be hauled in front of Congress and there would be calls for prosecution. (The law provides for personal penalties for officials who don’t follow the requirements imposed by a shutdown.) So yeah, congresspeople can complain about one stupid consequence of the shutdown or another, but those same congresspeople would likely be the ones crying for blood if they didn’t have that to complain about.

[lordofthemark]

@jrenaut 66210 wrote:

There is a pretty consistent anger at NPS here, regardless of government shutdown, because of the way they generally treat cyclists. I would be much more willing to give them the benefit of the doubt now if they were more pleasant under normal circumstances.

My view may be narrower. The part of my commute on NPS property will be improved due to NPS using a transportation enhancement grant to well, enhance it. Ive loosely followed the kvetching about the TR Island parking lot (a lot of my weekend rides seem to pass there), where NPS seems to have made an effort to improve thing. I’ve also had many, many positive experiences with NPS as a hiker, park visitor, etc.

NPS could do better, I’m sure. But for the most part, the folks in the larger discourse berating the NPS for being political are no friends of cycling, AFAICT.

[fuzzy]

You- walking in the bike lane on 15th street near NY ave.

Me- biking in the bike lane coming up behind you, ringing the crap outta my bell.

Glad froze in place while I went around you on your left. Had you hopped over you would not be feeling well & I would not be posting a ‘missed connection’.

[Terpfan]

@lordofthemark 66209 wrote:

So when my wife and I wanted to go winter hiking in SNP, and they shut Skyline drive cause of snow, rather than just inform us of the risks, that was political?

NPS has a difficult job under current circumstances, and will be damned if they do, and damned if they don’t. If folks are angry about lack of access to parks, the place to take that anger is the folks who could change the situation overnight with a simple vote.

So shutting down four parking spaces that don’t even have a trash can is somehow a prudent use of resources during a shutdown? C’mon, it’s political. I get that they’re following orders and that’s perfectly fine, but call a spade for a spade.

And yes, the NPS part could end with either of two votes. I think you’re forgetting the mini-CRs that included them.

Either way, I do think they’re being overly zealous or someone is giving simply ridiculous orders. And you know what, I kind of feel bad for them. I mean, who wants to be the person tasked with spending more time at four parking spaces than they have ever done before all in the name of a shutdown?

[creadinger]

Hey lady! You are supposed to stop at red lights! While I was riding east on the W&OD along 4MR you decided to pull onto 4MR from the side street with a red light and without stopping first! Goddamnit, I am sick and tired of messing up my tires from locking up my brakes because of you idiot drivers!

[lordofthemark]

@Terpfan 66232 wrote:

So shutting down four parking spaces that don’t even have a trash can is somehow a prudent use of resources during a shutdown? C’mon, it’s political. I get that they’re following orders and that’s perfectly fine, but call a spade for a spade.?

I don’t know the rationale for that. Perhaps whoever ordered it did not go through each parking lot and its charecteristics. How many people at NPS are on duty deciding to what to shut?

And yes, the NPS part could end with either of two votes. I think you’re forgetting the mini-CRs that included them.

I am quite aware of them, but I am not sure the point of them. I was under the impression that the House was refusing to pass a complete CR with the spending levels that the GOP had long supported, because they needed to save us from catastrophe (or tyranny, or socialism, or something). Now it seems the catastrophe is not so bad as to be worth spoiling people’s vacations. This resembles a kidnapper holding a hostage, who wants to provide some creature comforts to the hostage, in order to deter the police from intervening. Or someone who beats their family members to get their way, but is careful to make sure its on places that don’t show in street clothes.

To end the NPS part, while leaving the cuts that are harming the rest of the govt, from scientific research to environmental enforcement to headstart, does not strike me as a reasonable option. Refusing it is not playing politics.

[mstone]

@lordofthemark 66264 wrote:

I am quite aware of them, but I am not sure the point of them. I was under the impression that the House was refusing to pass a complete CR with the spending levels that the GOP had long supported, because they needed to save us from catastrophe (or tyranny, or socialism, or something). Now it seems the catastrophe is not so bad as to be worth spoiling people’s vacations.

Adding to the irony is the fact that the GOP has been starving NPS of funding for years.

[guga31bb]

Me: taking a break from my ride home to remove my jacket at the top of the Custis corkscrew
You: the nice gentleman who as you went by, smiled and made a comment about how at least it wasn’t raining like this morning.

Agreed! And you were one of the only two other people I saw going home this afternoon (west on Custis at 5pm).

[Author]

Posts