Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

r---------"'"'lIII"!"~~~--California ORV Funding- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --. Political NCE HERE lifeline 5 0% State pr ojects - 5 0% City/Cou nty projects I Green Stickie mnney: Taxation without representation? That has a thrilling ring, doesn't it ? "Taxation without rep resentation" - so mething to real ly go to war for. As it applies to the Californ ia " Green Stickie" program, th e p hrase is tru e on ly insofar as the state's dirt riders allow it to remain true. To un d erst an d why, y ou m ust first understand what happens to your SI5 fee, where it goes, how it's divided up, who administers its use. Table I summarizes the ORV funding picture in California, but it doesn't really get at the "why" and "how" of it all. At first, it seems unnecessarily complex. Why even break the money up three ways? And most of all, how do you, the taxpayer (it is, after all, a tax ; regardless of what it might be called officially) get to have a say in how it's spent? Right off, the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) gets a third of it to adminster the registration end of it; and as far as you are concerned, that money has disappeared. It will be used as the DMV sees fit, and the only way to know if you're getting $5 worth from DMV is to ask your state legislat o r to check into it. The second portion, $4, is administered by the state Controller (head financial officer) as an in-lieu property tax on your vehicle. All things considered , we get off easy . A property tax could have gone into the general fund, to disappear again; and the way property is valued, it co uld be more th an $4 for the pricey m ach in ery m an y o f us favor. As it is, the law req uires that it be spent in certain ways by the cities and co unties which are allowed to tap the fund. , Unfortunately, all too many localities simply use their share to pay cops to chase bikes; and there it ends. Your recourse as a citizen has to be through your local city council/county board, whatever. In cases where the locality is ' alleged to have illegally dumped their in-lieu tax money into the general fund, it will probably take legal action against that particular governing body to set things right. Although the SoCal desert riders have finally gotten a legal task force together, few rider groups at the grass roots have the kind of horsepower to take on their local authorities in the legal arena. Result - a kind of Mexican standoff in which the politicos can continue to do as they please with your bread. The remaining $6, augmen ted by fines and in-lieu gas taxes, goes to the California Department of Parks and Recreat ion ; a nd it is this portion, so far t hat is most likely to be spent directly in the dirt biker/taxpayer's interest. It is th rough the de partment's associated' Recrea tional Trails Committee that you, the rider, have the greatest opportunity fo r direct citizen input to the system. Here's ,h o w it wo r ks. The Co mmittee , is a ci tizen's pan el appointed by the Governor to advise the Director of Parks and ,Recrea t ion . They mee t on a mon thl y basis t h rougho ut the state, listening to public cornmen ts and deliberating in public on the recommendations they'll make to the Director. A case in point was the January 15 meeting to co nside r reclassifying 2000 I acres of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park to recreational use. This, in tum. was needed to pave the way for purchase of I I ,OOD acres around Ocotillo Wells for an ORV recreation area that would serve as a gateway to still more BLM and U.S . Forest Service land. With apparently very good representation from San Diego County 's CORVAC, they decided to recommend favorably on the reclassification, ask for a go-ahead on the Ocotillo Wells project, and in addition, ask that a citizen's advisory group of ORV people be formed to guide the local Area Director in developing the p roperty . The final decision is now u p to State Director, He rbert Rhodes. The next meeting of the committee is February 26 in Sacramento . Call Parks & ' Recr eat io n at (916) 445-1370 for exact ti me, place, and agenda. Being at these meetings as an ordinay citizen is one way to get representation, but there's yet another. The seven members of the committee serve at the pleasure of the Governor, and are picked to represent seven geographical areas of the state. It was generally hoped that the membership would be a balance of motorized a nd non-motorized trail user interests. Of the seven current members, three are known to have a positive interest in ORV recreation. They are: Richard Brown, 13842 Alden Grove, Sylmar 9 1342', Ph: (2 13) 747-6471, re presenting L.A., Kern and Kings county areas; Ralph Goodson, 1800 Ave. of the Stars, Suite 1425, Los Angeles 90067, Ph: (213) 277-6133 representing San Diego , Riverside, Imperial, San Berdoo areas; and Doug Tharner, 35 . La Ranche ria Rd ., Carmel Valley 93924, Ph: (408) 659-3381 representing the North Co as t area. None o f these folks can wo rk in a vac uum, so if y o u have specific infor mation th at will help open green stickie la nd, or if you have a specific problem, don't be ~fraid to share it . Finally, yo u can have some influe nce on the appointments themselves, since the m embers ar e subject to constant review by the Governor. If you know a concerned, active, public-spirited rider-citizen capable of serving on su ch a committee, take the time to write a letter submitting his /her name to the Governor's Appointments Se cretary , Dr. Mellon , St ate Capitol , Sacramento , CA 95814. Give good reasons why your nominee is qualified and, who knows your letter m igh t be the one that clinches it. Meanwhil e, what have they done w ith out you? A surprising lot, really. Pismo Dunes and Hollister Hills are open as state projects. The O co t illo Wells project is in work and has 52 .2 million appropriated by the legislature. The search goes on for a state project in or near th e Los Angeles area, b ut department spokesmen freely admit that nothing will m o ve on it until next fiscal year, when the la test round of m o ney is do led out. They m ay have someth ing to anno unce by October. On the lo cal fro nt, the departmen t puts up ' 75 % of a project's cost against , the remainder which is generated lo cal ly. So far, in te rms of money and 'acreage , the fo llowing areas have gotten their cu t : Marysville ($ 6 0 ,0 0 0 ; 20 acres), ' Davis (520,000 ; minibike area ), Sa cramento Co unty-McGill OHV Park (529 2, 5 00 ; 435 acre s), Stanislaus County /La Grange ORV Park ($7 5 ,0 0 0 ; 110 acres), Tulare ($8 8 ,50 0 ; 20 acres), Baldwin Pa rk/Delta MX Park (5 13 1,250 ; 17 acres with 1'.4 mile MX track); Long Beach/Honda Haven ($18,750; 8.5 acre minibike park), Sacramento County IMcG iIl expansion (53 0 4,4 25; 611.8 acres), Orange County /Olinda ($2 2 5,0 0 0 ; convert landfill to ORV park), L.A. County /Whittier Narrows Minibike Park ($58,322; 12 acres), San Jose ($225,000 for multi-use ORV track) . Over SlA million committed fo r local use was transferred back to statewide p rogrammin g because not enough applications came in from lo catl it ies. This m ean s that many city and co u nty autho rities simp ly have not been willing t o do the ho mework needed to get the fu nding. Nor is lack of mo ney fo r pl annin g an excuse, fo r that is exactly wh at th e Co n trolle rad mi nistered in-lie u tax fu nd (your $4) is m ean t for. It will take yo u , the rid er /ci tizen m eetin g them head-on to get t he m o ff the di me. From the beginning of the program through October 1975, the fund has taken in just over $5.9 million and spent just over $5 .7 million . That represents about 25 percent participation by o ff- roa d bikers. The other 75 %; we well kno w, distrusts the state, is waiting t o see a return on the money, and/or feels it's an o utright ri poff. As far as actual return, the state and the riders are lo cked in a quid-pro-quo situation, saying "We11 b uy the land if you b uy the stickies" ... UNo , we'll b uy the sti ckles if you buy the land." Deadlock. The key to unlocking the deadlock is rep resen tat io n . To get it, use th e channels described already; and if that's no t e nough it's high time you started m a kin g some noise abou tit. HAPPENINGS BlM - WYOMING R OCK SPRI NGS D IST RICT MULTI PLE USE ADV ISO RY BOARD Meeting 9 a.m., February 25 at BLM Dist, Office, Rock Springs, Wyoming. Organizational m ee t in g of new board, open to public with opportunity for oral or written comment. To make oral statement, inform Dist, Mgr., BLM, Box 1869 , Rock Springs, Wyoming 82901 in writing by Feb. 16. Info call (3 07) 362-6613. ... BlM - UTAH AR IZONA ST RIP DIST. A DV IS O RY BOA RD Meeting February 19 at 9 a.m., Four Season Motor Inn, 747 E. St. George Blvd ., St. Georg e, Utah. Open to public, written statements only. BlM - IDAHO STAT E MULTIPLE US E ADV ISOR Y BOARD Mee ting Feb. 20-21 Ro de wa y Inn, Owyhee Rm. , Bo ise , Idaho . Open to pub lic with time avail. 4:30 to 5:30 p .rn , Feb . 20 for o ral statements. Notify State Director (912), BLM , 550 West Fort St ., Bo ise, Idaho 83724. In fo cal l (2 08) 342-27 11 ext. 22 91. BlM - OREGON MEDFORD DISTR ICT ADVISORY BOARD ' Mee t ing I p .m ., Fe bru ary 10, Red Uon In n , 200 North Riverside , Medford , Oregon. Open to public with some ti m e available for oral statements. Written comments to Dist. Manager, BLM. 310 W. Sixth St., Medford, OR 976011. • 29

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