IGX

This is a bit of a long story, and it's factual, and easily verified by Googling.

Just south of Cleveland, OH by about 20 miles or so is a popular national park, The Cuyahoga Valley National Park. This park boasts a high rate of visitor traffic; some studies have been done which show it is one of the most-trafficked parks in the national park system. It's largely in an urban setting - part of the reason for the high traffic, I'm sure.

The park encompasses something like 33,000 acres; not extremely large, to be sure - but a very nice chunk of territory in what locals refer to as "The Valley". The river flows north towards the lake through much of the park. There's an old canal, and towpath. A lot of people come here to exercise; some are experienced - as is the case with the group running the Burning River 100 this weekend, a 100 mile ultra which goes through the park for a decent part of its course. Some are not so experienced.

The not-so-experienced folks come out in the heat of summer, primarily, and don't know to hydrate. Some of them pass out. Some of them venture off trail, get lost. Some of them venture too far off trail, and call for rescue. There's various other accidents, as will happen with people.

I live pretty much in the park. I have one of the few remaining homes bordered on 3 sides by parkland. It's peaceful enough, for the most part, and I don't have any neighbors. Never will, either.

The township I live in - Boston - is the smallest in Ohio, and the poorest. Yet my property taxes are among the highest in the state. Township services? Well, we can't even afford full time police coverage - we rent coverage from either a neighboring village, or from the county. Essentially, there is no police presence. We had a roadway collapse a while back, big landslide, and haven't been able to afford to repair it. There's alternate routes; not as quick, but they work.

We have no sewer system, no public water, and we have to pay extra for trash removal. Those sorts of things just aren't in the township budget.

...

The park wasn't always here. Back in the 1970's, then president Ford signed a bill into law which was designed to preserve some trees. Sounds great.

This legislation ultimately fueled the Dept of the Interior into exercising Eminent Domain, and removing the vast majority of the citizenry from my township, and the small town of Boston at its center. Most of the citizenry were engaged in operating small farms. There were a few other businesses here; they were removed as well. The seized propetry became the Cuyahoga National Reservation, and then in (I think) 2000, it achieved national park status.

When you remove all the citizenry and business from an area, and then prohibit any business from starting, you pretty much erode the tax base - which makes it difficult for the remaining citizens to obtain services. Another township a few miles south, Northhampton Township, folded.

The park pays no property tax for the various buildings it owns. In fact, the park pays no local taxes of any kind.

Yet, the roads leading into the park must be maintained. My tax dollars go for that. The roads have to be repaired, plowed, etc. The park pays for none of this.

When an idiot goes off trail hiking, and gets stuck, and requires rescue from his stupidity, they call 911, and guess what? It's the local fire department / EMS which has to provide the rescue service. Guess what - yes, that's right - they're never compensated. These services exist because of my tax dollars, and the tax dollars of the few remaining homes in the township.

To add insult to injury, the park started a new program in 2000 or so, called "The Greening of the Valley". Those farms they seized by eminent domain, justified in order to "preserve nature?" They are now rented out to sharecroppers - part time farmers who grow strawberries or corn or such, and pass back a percentage of their sales to the National government.

These farms were, in nearly all cases, family farms passed down for generations, since their founding. The families were forced to move out, to lose their dreams - on the pretext of saving the land. These families were not rich; they farmed because they truly loved the land, and loved the region - some of the kids would choose to move away, but many did not. It's a beautiful area, rooted in history.

(Yes, those families were compensated financially, according to some formula, and according to their ability to hire legal counsel, and to stand up to the then park director who was known in the community as "Little Hitler" for his compassionate ways.)

My township is teetering on the brink of insolvency. Not because of mismanagement or rampant spending. But because the federal government stepped in, and helped us: helped us with infrastructure, helped us build our dreams, and helped us live our vision.

Many young folk in the area refer to the region as "Helltown." It's a fitting name.

It's been noted by families who remain that their grandparents were so excited to get indoor plumbing, and tear down the privy, so that they didn't have to piss outside on their property. Fast forward to today, and we have strangers from the city pissing on our property, because they can't hold their bladders. Step off nearly any of the backwoods trails, and you'll find human feces and toilet paper.

It's good to know that the rights of the few were violated in order for the many to piss and shit on their land.

That, to me, is what federal government is all about.

I fear that our township will ultimately lose the struggle to remain solvent.

If you've read this whole thing, I apologize. Seems like every year around this time I start to get bugged by this, and just needed to vent, I guess.

Carry on.

They're just trying to help. Just giving you some "infrastructure", bro.

Government is a mixed bag, nobody pretends otherwise.

Unfunded mandates are a great way to keep federal costs down (for the feds).