From: alra@governance.net Subject: Rep. Radanovich Pressured To Support Yosemite Valley Plan Rep. Radanovich Pressured To Support Yosemite Valley Plan Radanovich needs your calls, faxes and e-mail. MORE VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR JULY 4th “GREETERS AT THE GATES” PROGRAM. Please sign up below. Representative Radanovich needs your help. Those people and organizations who support getting rid of people and families in Yosemite are putting as much pressure as they can on Congressman Radanovich. Since the hearing in Yosemite Valley, it appears that those who seek to strangle camping, remove parking and force families, climbers, hikers, and other users to ride a bus to enjoy Yosemite are putting great pressure on Rep. Radanovich. If he does not hear from you, you will lose. His friends, allies and supporters must let him know that we stand with him as he fights for the rights and needs of campers, hikers, climbers and local communities. Radanovich must hear from you that you want him to make the Park Service fix ALL the campgrounds damaged in the 1997 flood. Not just a few. As of now, over 60% of the campgrounds available in the 1980 General Management Plan will be lost. He must know that he has allies when he fights in Congress to stop the Park Service from removing 75% of the parking in Yosemite Valley. He certainly must hear your voice loud and clear that you stand with him to fight forced busing in Yosemite Valley. There must be NO FORCED BUSING IN YOSEMITE. The Park Service says don’t worry, it will be a few years. It must not happen EVER. Calls, letters, faxes and e-mails are Urgent to Congressman Radonovich. Here is what you should do: You may call Congressman Radanovich at: (202) 225-3121 or his personal office number of (202) 225-4540. Send him a fax at: (202) 225-3402. You can send him e-mail via his website at www.house.gov/radanovich. You can write him a letter but expect that it will be slow because of the Anthrax scare. All letters are carefully checked. You are better off faxing your letter. That is by far the best way. Keep your letters to one page, no more. You can send additional information but the letter must be no longer than one page or it won’t get read. Here are some points we agree with that you can use in your letter. When you use them, be sure to put them in your own words. 1. Congressman Radanovich. We want all the river campsites restored, not just a few. 2. Please don’t compromise around the no net loss of campsites. The Park Service is not likely to ever build new campsites anywhere in the park. 3. The Yosemite Valley Plan discriminates against middle and lower income families and individuals. It is an elitist plan that caters to the rich. Yosemite should be open to all Americans. 4. Closing nearly 60% of drive-in campgrounds in Yosemite Valley forces families with young children, seniors, and the physically challenged to go elsewhere rather than deal with the increasingly difficult conditions in Yosemite. 5. The Park Service has to get rid of the River Campgrounds because they represent the “heart and soul” of the restoration in what is supposed to be a restoration plan. Yet the campgrounds represent the least impact on the environment and are the least expensive to maintain. 6. Most Americans will not subject themselves to being forced onto buses. This is especially true for seniors, the disabled, and families with young children. Riding the bus for a whole day, lugging your family freight, will result in a more costly, commercialized, and more controlled experience—a visitor’s worst nightmare. 7. The average family would get on a bus way outside the park, have to get off with all their gear if they want to visit Bridlevail falls where they have no way to guard their supplies while they hike, then get back on the bus, reload their stuff, get off at the next site, unload all their stuff etc etc. Most people will simply not accept this level on inconvenience. They will go somewhere else. 8. Parking is critical in Yosemite. Over 70% of the pre 1980 parking will be closed. It is very difficult for young families to fully enjoy Yosemite without the freedom of their cars. No cars in the Valley will mean driving many, if not most, families to other places. This deprives them of the unique experience Yosemite offers and inflicts economic hardship on the gateway communities surrounding Yosemite. 9. The Yosemite Valley Plan resembles an urban renewal plan and appears to be a boondoggle. Most of the money (96%) is allocated for construction and redevelopment. Only 6% is targeted for restoration—primarily removal of the Rivers Campgrounds and popular picnic areas (Swinging Bridge and Church Bowl). All of this at a cost that could go well over half a billion dollars. 10. The Yosemite Valley Plan was largely funded by Congress in response to damage caused by overly exaggerated 1997 flood estimates. Most of the money is not going for flood repair but instead to achieve a predetermined Park Service agenda responding to the anti-people goals of a noisy minority. 11. The Yosemite Valley Plan lacks scientific credibility. As of now, the Park Service says it will do the scientific work sometime in the future. That makes no sense. An aggressive Inventory and Monitoring Program needs to be in place FIRST to provide information critical to the planning process. 12. The Park Service has failed to do their homework. They have not quantified the Park’s carrying capacity. The Park Service is unable to scientifically document the amount of visitor use the park can sustain before negatively impacting resources. 13. The general public was sold a bill of goods. The Final document resembles a loosely bound framework of open-ended projects with no design-level specifics, each requiring further environmental review and compliance. The result will be a public that has been left out albeit greatly disturbed at the sleight-of-hand tricks the Park Service has been using to leverage flood restoration money to further their “grand planning scheme.” 14. I believe the Yosemite Valley Plan is a top down, command and control plan imposed by Washington, DC, on visitors and communities. It is part of a nationwide campaign, targeting high profile national parks, to force people out of their cars and on to mass transit, ignoring the environmental, human and economic costs. 15. Public participation and input into plan preparation is meaningless. Public comments are just part of a check off list to show cursory compliance and are largely ignored. 16. A subtle outcome of the Yosemite Valley Plan is the staunch support of YARTS (Yosemite Area Regional Transportation System) by the National Park Service as a means for ultimately removing all private vehicle access to Yosemite Valley. 17. The sewage system in Yosemite is falling apart. I believe the Park Service should fix this environmental hazard before embarking on a grand scheme to remake Yosemite at the request of special interest groups. MORE VOLUNTEERS NEEDED OVER JULY 4TH WEEKEND. Visitors and Communities for an Open Yosemite (VCOY will carry out a “Greeters at the Gates” program outside all the entrances at Yosemite National Park over part of the July 4th weekend. Volunteers to participate for short periods are very important. The first Visitors and Communities For An Open Yosemite (VCOY “Greeters at the Gates” program over Memorial Day at all the entrance gates to Yosemite was a great success. In two days we handed out over 4,000 surveys and lots of car signs, bumper stickers and other handouts. There was an average of three people or more in each car. That means that the message to keep Yosemite open got in the hands of between 12,000 and 16,000 people. Please return this e-mail with your selected gate and times. We need people to cover more than one time period if they can. We’ll be setting up just outside the entrances on Highway 41, Highway 140 and Highway 120. We may even do Tioga Pass with enough volunteers. We’ll have greeters at the gates at the following times. Please let us know as soon as you can which gate you wish to be at and which days and time periods you can help. Please check the following box and then tell us the other information. [ ] Yes, Chuck. I can help. [ ] NO Chuck, I cannot help this time. [ ] I cannot help this time but I’m sending a check to help with the printing and other expenses. I’ll send: $25 __ $50 __ $75 __ $100__ $200 __ Other $ ______ I want to work (circle one) Highway 120 Entrance ___ Highway 140 Entrance ___ Highway 41 Entrance ___ Tioga Pass Entrance ___ Thursday, July 3rd from 12:00 Noon until 8:00 PM. That will be broken into three time periods. 12:00 Noon to 3:00 PM 2:30 PM until 5:30 PM 5:00 PM until 8:00 PM Friday, July 4th from 10:00 AM until 7:00 PM. That will be broken into the following time periods. 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM. 12:30 PM to 3:30 PM 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM 5:30: PM to 8:30 PM Saturday, July 5th from 10:00 PM to 3:30 PM. That will again be broken in these time periods. 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM 12:30 PM to 3:30 PM To respond, simply send this message back with your name, address, phone, cell phone and e-mail. The family and community representatives will be handing the visitors a quick survey to fill out. Each person will also receive a return envelope as well as car signs to put in their car. The survey will ask their opinion about whether they want to give up their cars and be forced to ride a bus into the park. It will also ask about the Park Service’s closing 60% of the campsites in Yosemite that were there before the 1980 General Management Plan and shutting down over 70% of the parking that existed in Yosemite Valley prior to the 1980 Plan. We’ll ask them about other kinds of access also. It is urgent that you go to your closest entrance to support your fellow residents and help keep Yosemite Open. Don’t allow the Park Service to lock you out. Representatives of climbing, camping and Indian groups have joined with Visitors and Communities For An Open Yosemite. They will also be helping at the gates. It is very important that you show up, even for an hour or two, to support keeping Yosemite Open. Bring signs that only focus on Yosemite, chairs, water and of course a hat. For more information, Contact Chuck Cushman of American Land Rights at his office at (360) 687-3087 until Monday afternoon, June 30th. After that he can be reached on his cell phone at (360) 607-3312. Or call Dan Carter at the East Madera County Visitors Bureau at (559) 683-4636. You may also call Johnny Ruiz who will be leading the effort at the Highway 41 (South) entrance. His number is (559) 877-4151 or his cell is (559) 307-7819. Urge your friends to go. Call a neighbor. Help us send a message to Congress and the Park Service to keep Yosemite open and accessible to families and cars. Please respond to this message to tell us if you are willing to help. PLEASE FORWARD THIS MESSAGE WIDELY. -- To unsubscribe from this mailing list; please visit http://governance.net and enter your email address.