This plays right into the privatization happy Bush administration. Starve an agency's budget, then look on as operations stall, then claim that only private industry can run the park. (See, the Park Service can't run the Parkway. Disney can do better).

Once again the media and or bloggers have stirred the fires of budgetary woes against the Bush administration. Interestingly enough if you look a little deeper Blue Ridge had 268 employees in 1990, By 2000 that number had dropped by 36 to the exact same number this blog says they have today. It would be a little hard to blame that on the Bushies. So if there are 232 now and 232 when Bush took over... Do the math. Staffing and budget do not necessarily run hand in hand either. Since 1990 Blue Rdige Pkwy budget (ONP Base) has doubled. While staffing has dropped off. In 2004 (the last year of program budget info available) Blue Ridge was funded for 1.4 million in cyclic maintenance. Could that be some of the backlog stuff the media has claimed has been held back by the administration. To give credit where credit is due, operating a Park has become much more expensive. Studies and more studies are being generated to satisfy the same folks who think they are trying to protect the Parks. Not to mention the attorney's fees and court costs spent justifying every decision.