Consider seeing The First 70, a documentary that highlights dozens of CA State Parks that will CLOSE in a few weeks. This short film gives an excellent overview of the problem, and I am outraged that this is happening. I get that there’s a budget crisis, and that things must be cut, but our park system is what makes this state great.

The Mercury News ran an op-ed piece by Reed Holderman earlier this month that stated:

During the Great Depression, when things were much worse, elected officials could have chosen to go down the “cut everything” path like we are doing now. Instead, they did just the opposite. Rather than closing parks, they opened California’s largest at Anza Borrego and christened Grand Canyon National Park. They built the Golden Gate Bridge and Hoover Dam. When Rexford Tugwell, a New Deal architect, was asked what he was trying to accomplish, he said: Put people to work and give them hope. We could use a little of both right now.

Frankly, California parks are why I’m still here instead of back east (nothing compares to beauty of CA: beaches, mountains, deserts, forests, all within hours—or even minutes—of each other), and it amazes me how people aren’t willing to fight for CA’s protected spaces. Spaces that educate, spaces that we enjoy & that make our lives better. If we close these parks, I think we’re affirming an attitude that will be hard for us to reverse later on: That our parks don’t matter. That the residents of CA don’t care. The film is called “The First 70” for a reason. What about the next 70? And the next?

This short film is a must see for every resident of California. The vast majority of Californians that I know (transplants too) spend time in our parks, and I find it hard to believe that people don’t care about this. If you think it’s not within your power to do anything, you are mistaken. DO SOMETHING!

The First 70 Screening:
May 24, 7 pm (doors at 6 pm), FREE
IDEO
Pier 28 Annex, The Embarcadero
San Francisco, CA 94105