[Note from Catherine Austin Fitts: Keep an eye out for fire sale leasing and transfer of valuable state assets to insiders at below market prices on the pretext of budget woes. Some smart folks in California may have prevented a lot of sweet deals on state parks this time. Citizens beware!]
By Chris Megerian and Patrick McGreevy
California’s parks system stashed away nearly $54 million even as it was cutting services and threatening to close parks, a revelation that prompted the resignation of the department’s director Friday.
The hoarded cash remained untapped while the California Department of Parks and Recreation painted a dire picture of the system’s health, soliciting hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations in what was thought to be a desperate scramble to keep facilities open.