Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

I poIM1ica1 Ijfeljne ~ t LOST: ,5 By Lane Cam pbe ll Y know by now that somehow , without overtly breaking the law (or if so, we don't know it) the California State Parks & Recreation Department, under Herbert Rhodes' direction, managed to fumble . a large OU 26 amount of your ta x money under the rug, rather than spend it on ORV parks. Believe it, it was you r tax money, regardless of the sou rce . Part of it came from the $15 you paid for that Ca lifornia Green Stickie. Part of it (A big part) came from the gasoline tax you paid on th e gas you used off-road. Part of it came from (o r was supposed to come from) the 1974 "State Beach, Park , Recreational & H istorical Facilities Bond Act " which was approved by all California voters, not just 0 R V enthusiasts . As required by law , the Department of Parks & Recreation printed up a brochure , dated April I , 1974 , to tell the vot ers what the proposed bond funds would be spent for , This is no idl e exercise ; for if voters a re being asked to obligat e their future taxes to payoff a large state debt , they 'r e not about to give the state a blank check. The 1974 Bond 'Act brochure told the voters that the state wanted to borrow $90 million for land acquisit ion. It promised the voters in writing that , of that $90 million, $1 ,500 ,000 would be for an OffHighway Vehicle Ar ea . The brochure told the orers: rapidly·growing outdoor "A recreation field involves th e use of offrecreation vehicles . highway Appropriate areas must be established for th ese a ctivities. Early planning indicates that on e or two sites should be select ed without delay, and $1.5 mi llion will be allocated for this purpose , Sounds like a fairly straightforward commitment , do esn 't it? it was a commitment made by Governor Ronald Reagan , Resources Secretary Norman B. Livermore, Jr., and Parks & Rec Director William Penn Matt , Jr . - all of whom were on their way out , whether they knew it at the time or not . Which brings up the question - is a Democratic- administration bound to honor promises made by a Republican administration? The answer, in today's practical terms is only if the voters hold their feet to the fire. Whether or not Brown, Dederich, Rhodes & Co. liked th e commitment made by th eir predecessors , the voters bought the 1974 Bond Act , warts and aiL Even thos e who could care less for ORVs must ha ve considered $1.5 million a small bone to toss to us in order . to get their hands on th e remaining $88.5 million worth of park land . But th e voters don 't get to check up on th e bureaucrats very well between elections, so th e legislature sits down in Sacramento each yea r to try to do it for them . On a bond deal it works somthing like this : Once the voters sa y OK , the state can print up $90 million worth of bonds and sell them to anybody we'll buy - mostly banks and investment companies. They are now in hock to the bondholders, but they've got '90 million in the kitty . They have it , but they can't spend it until the legislature appropriates it. So, to get their mitts on the money , they have to submit to the legislature a list of specific land acquisitions, how much they expect each purchase to cost, and where they expect to get any extra money they need over and above what's been allocated . Then as tim e goes by, they have to do status reports on how fas t the money's being spent , and where. The legisla tu re , in turn , may pat them on the head and say th ey've been good ; or they may make adjustments to already-appropriated funds ; or they might write a whole new bill making new and different appropriations. Considering all the options , it be comes a co m plex game, one in which th e burea ucra ts get to see more of th e . cards than th e legislators . As tim e goes by, som e projects price themselves out of existence due to inflation; a nd th e money bu dget ed for th em goes up for grabs for something else . As adjustments are made and re o p rogramming done , the tall y ge ts more complex. Then th e legislature may step in with its say. In fact , this was done by AB2329 , passed and signed by Gov . Brown in July, 1976 . This bill grabbed $4 ,000,000 for a San Bruno Mountain acquisition - and $500 ,000 for addition s to Pt. Mugu State Park in the Santa Monica Mountains - two projects wh ich wer e not in the original 1974 Bond Act package as sold to the voters. ' An interesting point about that San Bru no Mountain project , the money's not spent yet - and won 't be spent until loca l agencies dovetail th eir la n d buying plans with the State . If that doesn't happen by 1979 , th e writer s of AB2329 say, Parks & Rec is directed to parcel it out among six other projects in San Mateo County. All th ese th in gs are " Pa rk" cla ssified , i.e . not mot or vehicl es a llowed ; Sierra Clu b ber territory. Meanwhile, during the sum mer of '76 , Parks & Rec planners circulated a staff report on "Acquisition projects not yet funded". There are about 40 of them - mostly park-type preservation developments ; and nearly every justification paragraph begins with , "This is a very good p roject" or "a very desirable addition to the State Park System" . Except one , filed under "Miscellaneous" which says: "OffHighway Vehicle Acquisition - No specific O HV project was id entified for this allocation other than one project in th e San Francisco 'Bay Area and on e in the Los Angeles Metro politan Ar ea . This is still true though four candidate projects are currently being evalu a ted ... " It 's a pr etty glaring cont rast to th e res t of th e re p ort. In a big sta tus report done Au gu st I, 1976 (about th e tim e Rh od es was cho pp ing up th e ORV unit a nd scattering it ) Parks & Rec gave its la test account ing of what ha s been done with '74 Bond Act money. Of $75 (Continued on page 28) ,0 and one ranch OpiDioD Waiting for Japan, Inc. to hai~ you out? Don't hold your breath! a s is evident on these pages, motorcyclists are at th e curl of a new wave of political outrage , Before we ta ke one more step , before we go over the top , before we at CN lay ou t a whole new arsenal of socio-politic al weapons for you the rider to wield in anger , let's dispel th e one last lingering myt h you still cling to . That m yth . that on e cruel jo ke that so many of you are pla ying on yourselves, is th e id ea , th at some how "the ind ustry" with all its money will bail you out. H at e to tell you , folks . but the mon ey J apan . In c. might have spe n t in your hyp oth eti ca l "wa r chest" - is goi ng elsewh ere. For th e last ten yea rs, th e America ns wh o work for J apan , In c. a t th e M IC a nd a t a ll th e major dist ributorships hav e known a bout la nd closure , noise standards, emission co nt ro ls, a nd th e effect th ese th in gs can/will /have had on sa les. T he high -wat erm ark of th eir co ncern , to d at e, hasbeen th e pledge - not th e del iverance , but th e pledge - of $250 ,000 to th e AMA , sp read ou t over a three year period . It is not th at th ey haven't tri ed. They a re not th eir own masters. . Let me put it to you stra ight. J apan , Inc. is writing you off. No , th ey'r e ho t go ing to quit selli ng you motorcycles: wha t is happen ing is more su btle th an th at. Wh at you have to understa nd is th at big business thri ves on grow th. It spe nds its m on ey p romot ing growth, an d it spends th a t mon ey in m ark ets th at a re e x p ec t ed t o g ro w. T he Am eri can m ark et has quit growing . It quit grow ing two years ago ; which is eno ugh lea d tim e for even th e most cumb er som e d e ci si on -m ak in g mach inery to operate. Wha t's mor e, th e limits to growth are bein g/have been laid down by Am erica 's stat e and federal governments through a process ' that th e Japanese bus inessman cannot fathom and cannot fight. When the American market was doub ling e ve ry three years , and eu phoria was in the a ir , there was rea son to bu y $3 million worth of multi-fa ceted work s racing program . There was reason to bring international st ars to Am eri ca and wheel them a bo u t th e co unt ry in la vish promotions. T his is promotion mon ey, seed mon ey in th e clas sic tradition. It is not a gift. It is spent to crea te growth. Make growth im possible , and to g ro wt h -o r ie nte d cor po r a te management , it's not worth spe ndi ng a bent dim e just to preserve th e sta t usq uo . N ot wh ile g ro wt h is p ossibl e e lsew he re . Sin ce th e Ay-r abs d iscover ed th e true worth of oil, th ings hav e cha nge d in th e rest of th e world . In Indonesia , where just five years ago milli ons of dark -skinned people d id not know what shoes were, today they have shoes , and motorcycles as basic transportation . No miracle , just new ly-en lightened government, ' a bit of family p lanning, and a bit of native oiL In Ir an . th e Shah can afford to bu y th e most sop hist ica ted airplanes in Ameri ca 's wonder-arsen al : and . hi s su bjects c a n a ff o rd th e most sophisticated motorcycles money ca n bu y. In Australia's outba ck, the off roa d motorcycle is not a pla yth ing, nor an enviro nm ent a l dis ast er. It 's a work vehicle - wh ich j ust happens to lend itself to a bit of skylarking wh en th e work's don e , In Af rica , no one kn ows that a Yam aha DT-I is obs olet e - it's th e shortest d ist ance b etwee n two po in ts co n nect ed by L and R over tracks and littl e mo re . T he mon ey tha t was spe nt on learn to -ride , p ress t rips to Tahoe , work s ro ad r a cers, b ig -t ime m ot ocross sq ua ds , fac tory sup po rted local riders, a ll th e eu p horia of th e boom years is bein g spent somewhere else. Arab you ths are learni ng to ride on gold p lated semi- works motocrossers, and bu ying th em wh en sc h oo l' s ou t. Islanders ba rely ou t of th e Stone Age , whose fa t h ers pra yed t o bamboo repli c a s o f airpl an es , a r e tod a y showi ng up nearly a th ou sand strong a t track s ha c ked ou t of j ungle to race versio ns of Yamaha 's sm a ll - bo re Yellow T er rors whi ch Am eri can d e al ers ca n ' t g ive a way . An internat ion al deal er newsletter tags " Oce a n ia " - t he co m bination of Aust ral ia , New Zeal an d , Indonesia , Micron esia , Mal a ysia , the Ph ilippines - as th e next "mo nste r m arket ," ca pa ble of swa llowi ng not just on e mill ion, but ten s of milli ons o f mo torcycles a nn ua lly. Am eri ca , th e eu phoria of su pe rgrowth ha s passed you by. Japan , Inc , still has th e bu cks , and will still sh ip you 750,000 motorcycles a year , or whatever your es t a b lishe d dealer networks can mov e in an inc reasingly saturated, regulated market. But th e frosting, the extra kicker that sweete ne d th e pot , is going elsewhere . Works-supported racing is withering. Pink sl ip s a re sp rou t ing . All th e prophets sti ll with honor a re in Account ing. Mr . a nd Mrs . Am erican motorcyclist , you 're on you r own . The saving of th e sport , if it's to be saved at all, lies in the hands of American riders , American d eal ers, a nd those few Am eri can firm s who still in tend to bu ild bik es a nd parts for the long pul l. It 's going to be you r time , and your mon ey, t ha t even tu a lly turns th e tid e , if it's ever to be turned . And th at 's th e wa y it sho uld be . Lane Campbell

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