Protecting the Parkway requires, based on past local protection experience and best practices around the country, forming a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) of Parkway governmental stakeholders and the JPA then contracts with a nonprofit organization to provide daily management and philanthropic fund raising capability.
This would result in the type of dedicated—rather than diffused—management this jewel of our region requires, and is the type of arrangement preferred by some of the nation’s premier parks like Central Park in New York, and treasured local public resources such as the Sacramento Zoo.
We addressed this in our 2007 report "Governance, Ecoregionalism, & Heritage" (pp. 9-16)
Editorial: Parkway redemption?
Published 12:00 am PST Sunday, February 17, 2008
The conflict along the American River Parkway is fairly easy to summarize:
People fortunate enough to own property along the river bluff want to build houses with unobstructed views of the parkway.
Members of the public who invested in the purchase and upkeep of this multimillion-dollar scenery don't want it marred by the visual blight of intruding homes.
On Wednesday, the Sacramento Board of Supervisors again sided with a bluff owner and against the broader public interest. That's not surprising. This board and previous boards have a lousy record of protecting the scenic values of the American River Parkway, easily the region's most cherished natural asset.
