Mariposa County, Yosemite National Park
And The Temporary Bridge

Spending the last seven months intimately involved in the economy of
Mariposa County has given me even more information about this county
of ours. First off, I want everyone to know that we are immersed in
a very frustrating set of circumstances. Some of these issues are
nature made, but as true to character, most are man made. I lived at
a time in this county when we only had to deal with Mother Mature,
and that was bad enough.
But now we have to temper our observations with all sorts of nonsense
for the most part, imposed on us by us.

In l998 the Park Service increased the gate fee at Yosemite National
Park from $5 to $20. We were told that about $18 of the $20 was
going to stay in the park for various improvements etc. Now the Park
Service, at some level above the local management, has decided to
tack on another $5. For those of you who did not have Alice
Ellingham as a Elementary teacher in the old three room school house
in Mariposa, that brings to a total of $25 gate fee whenever one wishes
to visit Yosemite.
Let's see if we have learned anything since l998. 1995 was the
peak years for visitation to the Park, and the year that the Park
closed for a short time on a Saturday afternoon because the Park
Service determined that the number of visitors to the Park had
exceeded the limit of roughly 18,000 guests (as they like to call
us). I was there that day trying to photograph a wedding so it was a
mess. First, the removal of over 2000 parking spaces over the
previous few years caused the excess vehicles to circle around and
around the valley looking for some place to light. I had to walk my
bride and groom, and wedding party, from the Chapel to the Ahwahnee
simply because I was not sure that we would have parking, and once
giving up what we had, nothing would come off on time (which was a
big thing for the hotel because every event needs to meet a schedule).
In 1996 the Park shut down because no Federal budget was adopted,
thus the whole Christmas season was lost to the company and service
providers of service like Ellie and I. It was a big deal because
about 25% of our annual revenue was earned during that season. Same
for the company. Who was to blame? Congress blamed the President
and the President blamed Congress. Our Congressman went along with
the deal, as usual.
Then in l997, on New Years day, the flood hit. The Park was closed
for four and ½ months. By the way, after the l950 and 55 floods, the
Park closed for a couple of days, but by 1997 different attitudes
were running the place. Because it was the winter season, the
difficulties experienced by the gateway communities was significant
but not large.
The reconstruction of the El Portal road exposed difficulties in the
planning process of the Park Service. The reconstruction was divided
into four segments (A,B,C &D) and while the first three segments were
almost completed, MERGE and other environmental groups discovered
that during the Wild and Scenic planning process the Park Service had
not done their share of the river corridor planning as they had
indicated that they had done.
MERGE and others jumped on the Park Service and as the result of a
court action a Federal Judge in Fresno shut down the Section D
reconstruction while allowing the completion of the first three
sections. The Park Service was then ordered to do the Planning
process to the satisfaction of the Court (and one would assume the
environmental groups). Twice the Park Service prepared at great
expense plans which have been rejected by the court. They are now
trying to start another planning process which means starting over,
spending another 33 months in the process and because they find that
they can not meet the requirement of establishing a carrying capacity
for the river corridor (that means how many people can be within that
corridor at any one time, frankly an impossible task) they will not
address the issue. Unless the Court in Fresno wakes up or somebody
wakes up, this will mean that this new planning effort (taking
another 33 months and X number of tax dollars) will be subject to
failure. Remember Catch 22?
Some things have changed since l998. A much larger number of the
employees of both the Park Service and the Company reside in our
community. Thank you. They add greatly to the quality of life
hereabouts.
It has to be frustrating for those good people to be involved in such
a fruitless effort. In the meantime, the Dept. of Interior and on
down through the Park Service has determined that studies be
conducted determining the value of having Yosemite National Park in
our County. (At least that part which has all the development and
thus the BED TAX). They say that the Park's value to Mariposa County
is in excess of $300 million a year. Guess what, the $8.7 million
from BED TAX alone lets us know how valuable the Park is. It is from
that sum of money that the County is able to give departments heads a
4% pay increase etc. Without the BED TAX Mariposa County would have
about 200 employees or less instead of 400. Those employed by the
county would all be eligible for food stamps, not just a few in the
Road Department.

A major change has taken place in the Park Service. For most of my
life Yosemite National Park has looked upon Mariposa County as a
nuisance to be more or less ignored. Once in a while they have
responded to our request for conversations but not often. Some
Superintendents have told me that this was a national park, not to be
confused with the needs of Mariposa County. Not true today.
Yosemite National Park is reaching out to its neighbors more today
than at anytime in my experience. They have an intelligent
Superintendent, Deputy Superintendent and staff that not only is part
of our community but is actively seeking Partnership with the
surrounding counties in assisting to solve their problems.
Refreshing. Then along comes significant raises in all sorts of
fees, not of the local Park manager's desires.

This last fall Yosemite National Part determined (I am not sure how)
that not enough Hispanics were using the Park. In a San Joaquin
Valley that boasts almost 50% Hispanic population, they have
determined that only 17% of that population uses Yosemite for
recreation. The Park held an Out-Reach day in Fresno appealing to
more Hispanics to come to Yosemite. Vouchers giving free access to
the Park were distributed. Few of them were used, if my sources are
correct. Then why are more Hispanics not using Yosemite? Someone
wiser than I will have to answer that one but I suspect that it is
not part of their natural culture to recreate in the pines. They are
busy working and raising large families as they are a large group for
the most part on the lower rungs of the economic ladder at this time.
It isn't cheap to visit Yosemite even if you get in free. I can name
a number of reasons but just start with the price of gasoline. The
Park Service is planning other such events this year. Good luck.

Let us now turn to the effects of the road closure in the Merced
River Canyon from last April, almost a year ago. There are many
reasons why we didn't suffer as much loss of business last summer
during the four and one half months that it took Cal Trans to effect
a bypass. I am not going into those reasons because that is past
history but suffice to say than we did not loose a major business in
Mariposa as a result. But now, having had the experience of eleven
months of disruption, we can examine the future, and it is not good.
We have lost and may never regain a significant amount of business
due to the 28 foot limit on the first or west bridge. The question
is why did CalTrans not examine the long term consequences on future
business in the Merced River corridor before installing the bridge
the way they did. They are right to be proud of getting the job done
as quickly as they did but, knowing now what we did not know then,
the prospect of a six year wait for a permanent solution could have
been prevented if they had taken a little longer and installed a
bridge that would have accommodated traffic of all sizes. The second
bridge is done that way. A meeting will take place at 6PM this
coming Tuesday at the Board Chambers to examine the impact of this
situation on the economy of Mariposa County, and yes, the state as a
whole. Attend if possible.
There are plenty of impacts which will be examined which were not
apparent at the time that CalTrans was installing the first bridge.
Neither CalTrans nor the County, in the rush to reopen the road,
considered these impacts. Now we have to appeal to the Governor of
the State of California to declare an Economic Emergency in order to
cut the six years for some usable solution to six months or even six
weeks, which can be done if there is the will.

Couple the problems created on the Merced River Canyon with the
problems with Hwy. 140 within the Park just above the confluence with
Hwy 120, with the inability of Mariposa County to address planning
applications, tells us that there is in fact a moratorium on
everything economic and in any kind of development in Mariposa County
which supports the desires of MERGE to essentially to shut down the
county.
They asked for such a moratorium before the General Plan was adopted,
and then supported the General Plan as adopted. Then by use of
various legal devises taking up the staff time within the Planning
Department, have brought practically all development or even simple
efforts to a total halt.
It does not help that the Planning Department is down to three
planners plus a draftsman plus a part time planner to deal with the
volume of work on its plate. Being short two and one half positions
does not help. The inability of the county to fill those positions
has to be the responsibility of the Board of Supervisors because if
the Planning Director has done all he can to attract competent
planners and is unable because Mariposa County is not offering
attractive enough incentives to work for us, then either the pot
needs sweetening or another approach needs to be made. That other
approach is to contract with private firms to process the
applications or something which will move the backlog along.
Developers are willing to pay if they know that various permits will
be issued in a timely manner. It is the responsibility of the Board
of Supervisors to see that the government that they head is
functioning in a manner expected by the citizens when they pay the
taxes and fees to that government. There are legal limits within
county and state codes for the time of process of various
applications and few if any of these are being met. Devices used by
various departments to delay or cancel such applications are not
acceptable. The buck stops with the Board.
Private capital is the engine of our economic system. This is
supposed to be a free enterprise system that functions when a citizen
(not with criminal intent) applies to the county to process a project
that is provided for within the codes already adopted and yet is
given one more hurdle to jump. The end result is the erosion of
private capital away from investment in the project which has the
potential to give jobs to our population and profit which can be
taxed by our government at every level.
No one shies away from paying the just costs of process but when the
process does nothing but erode the capital that should be going into
the project, creating jobs and creating positive growth, then we must
do something to correct this situation. If the only jobs that are
created are in government then we are lost. If the only people who
get wage increases regardless of performance are in government, then
we are lost. Stagnation is what we have and it must be terminated.
 

To learn much more about Mariposa County along with
historical photos:
A signed copy of "Images of America" - Mariposa County,
By Leroy Radanovich can be purchased at his web site:
Radanovich Galleria & Books






This is a early day photo of the Mariposa Mine in
Mariposa County that is mentioned in the article to
the left by Mr. Radanovich.

This photo and others can be purchased in various sizes.
All prints are archivally printed on fiber based paper, given a selenium wash which renders the photographs permanent with a warm tone ready for framing
Radanovich Galleria & Books










Mariposa in 1920

This photo and others can be purchased in various sizes.
All prints are archivally printed on fiber based paper, given a selenium wash which renders the photographs permanent with a warm tone ready for framing
Radanovich Galleria & Books









Mariposa County Courthouse written by Leroy Radanovich and
Scott Pinkerton is a book about the oldest courthouse in California that is still in use today.
The book is signed by Leroy Radanovich.
To purchase the book:
Radanovich Galleria & Books








Mariposa in 1860


This photo and others can be purchased in various sizes.
All prints are archivally printed on fiber based paper, given a selenium wash which renders the photographs permanent with a warm tone ready for framing
Radanovich Galleria & Books