Libraries may lose park passes
Deficit threatens residents’ free access to check out California wonders
As California faces a staggering budget deficit, library card holders may soon lose the ability to check out free passes to more than 200 state parks, including popular destinations near Los Angeles.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget for the upcoming year does not include money for what’s known as the California State Library Parks Pass, which was launched two years ago to provide more equitable access to the outdoors. A survey of people who used the passes found the majority identified as low-income and people of color.
If the program were to end, “it would be sad because obviously some of our patrons are really enjoying” using the passes,” said Shellie Cocking, chief of collections and technical services at the San Francisco Public Library.
Passes, which provide free dayuse parking at participating parks, have been checked out more than 2,500 times from San Francisco’s 28 branches since July 2022. The highest number of checkouts were from the Main Library, near the notoriously gritty Tenderloin neighborhood.
In April 2022, the California State Library and California State Parks launched the three-year pilot program, handing out the passes — tags that hang over a vehicle’s rearview mirror — to all public library branches across the state, including mobile libraries.
Cocking said she used a pass herself in the program’s early days to visit Hendy Woods, a state park near Anderson Valley with majestic old-growth redwood trees. Several families, including hers, went together with their kids.
“It’s a really different experience from San Francisco,” Cocking said. “It really gives kids a different view
of the world, being able to connect to nature.”
California State Parks said in a statement that it was “very proud” of the program, but did not indicate that a revised budget arriving in May would add money to extend the program.
However, the department said it was “exploring potential partnerships with park support organizations to continue the California State Library Parks Pass where feasible.”
The funding was omitted as the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office projected a state budget shortfall of $73 billion — an estimate that has ballooned by $15 billion since January.
The library parks pass and two other outdoor initiatives had been allocated one-time funding of $9.1 million for three years. The other two initiatives, which remain funded, are free California State Park Adventure Passes for fourth-graders and their families, and Golden Bear Passes for families enrolled in CalWORKs, the state’s public assistance program.
With the library program in jeopardy, the California State Parks Foundation, a large advocacy group, has raised a battle cry to try to save it, writing to legislative leaders and posting a petition that’s garnered 1,800 signatures.
Rachel Norton, executive director of the foundation, said funding for the project was a “drop in the bucket” relative to the state’s proposed $291.5-billion budget.
“This is just such a good program,” she said, “and it’s so inexpensive in the context of the state budget that it seems crazy that you wouldn’t keep doing it.”
In a survey released in October, administered by State Parks and supported by the foundation, 63% of the program’s responding participants cited cost as their main reason for not having visited parks previously.
Nearly 70% of the survey’s respondents reported incomes of $60,000 or less, and more than 63% indicated that they are BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and other people of color).
About 90% of respondents said they now plan to visit state parks over seven times a year.
“It is benefiting exactly the populations that we want to feel more welcome and that parks are accessible to them,” Norton said.
Passes permit day-use parking for motorcycles or for vehicles with a capacity of up to nine people, state officials said.
Parking fees can be daunting even to average earners in expensive cities such as San Francisco and Los Angeles. Parking at scenic Malibu Creek State Park, about 35 miles from downtown L.A., costs $12 a day.
As of last year, each library branch in California had an average of 24 parking tags, up from an initial four, state officials said. Cocking said San Francisco has 611 passes in circulation, a number that increased significantly last year.
Residents with library cards can check out the passes for a certain number of days as allowed by their local library before they need to be returned.
Librarians said the passes are especially popular in the spring and summer, when warm weather and vacations draw people to the Golden State’s great outdoors.
It’s “like travel books,” Cocking said. “Travel books sit on the shelf a lot of the year, and then as it gets closer to summer, they’re all checked out.”
If the program is not renewed, passes in circulation will remain active through the rest of 2024, Norton said.