Changes at Mt Rainier -- road closed Tues, Weds

At least the new building doesn't look like a spaceship.

The old building was a mess and the amount of heating oil/diesel they burned was immense; the particulates from that are extremely hazardous to public health.  Given the condition of the building, I'm glad they tore it down.  I just wished they had replaced it with a nice little alpine lodge/warming hut structure in which you could get warm, eat lunch, or in the most improbable of dreams, have a hamburger and a beer!  BTW, such a structure existed at Paradise in the good old days. 

I would have liked to see the new visitor center, with its displays, with a bus terminal (and parking lot), and maybe a campground in or around Ashford where it would have been tremendously less expensive to build, available year-round, and serve as a transportation-interpretation-education hub.  That would have been nice and freed up parking space and space for a small alpine Inn while really facilitating the use of buses in the summer.

I also wish they would mandate the use of propane powered buses instead of diesel buses.  The tall trees on the way to Narada Falls trap the pollutants and the idling diesels at Longmire, Christine Falls, Ricksecker Point, Narada Falls, and Paradise really play havoc with the lungs of us bicyclists, especially, but also anybody who happens to be behind such a bus for up to a mile or so.  The documented health effects aren't too bad: severe adult onset asthma, lung cancer, ADHD in small children, and impairment of neurological development in the unborn.

... I just wished they had replaced it with a nice little alpine lodge/warming hut structure in which you could get warm, eat lunch, or in the most improbable of dreams, have a hamburger and a beer!  BTW, such a structure existed at Paradise in the good old days... 

I just wished enough money was leftover after this spending spree to utilize the existing water/sewer connections and construct a winterized restroom at the old VC site.  Then they could open the lower lot while the upper was being plowed, as in previous decades.

While we're on this subject, Randy, do you happen to know how much of that $50 Milllion figure went towards the Paradise Inn renovations?  Was it the balance not spent on the VC?  Or does that $50M include the ~$8M spent on the three-story, drive-thru dormitory for staff?

As I said earlier, the NPS is a rather lavishly funded agency...that loves to use its woeful budget as an excuse.

I saw a figure on a NPS website of 22 million for the new JVC.

When it comes to wasteful federal spending, the NPS is chump change, 93 million is being spent this year to built M1 tanks that the army has no need for, there are dozens other similar military industrial complex spending projects.

Don't forget so-called Homeland Security, who make the Pentagon look thrifty! 

So taxpayers have spent north of fifty million on Paradise buildings and probably a similar amount on roads in recent years and you're OK with us being excluded about 15% of the year?  How about when Paradise is closed four days a week for half the year like Hurricane Ridge?  IMO, that infrastructure spending is especially wasteful if we're locked out.

Some new information:

MRNP budget cuts could be severe

In the article, Randy King (MRNP Supt) says the Tues-Wed closures was made "in part" because of budget issues (MRNP current annual operating budget of $11.7 million is down $500,000 in base funding from the preceding years), but the Park has "vacancies in critical positions, on our snow removal crew in particular."  MRNP has developed a contingency plan for dealing with the upcoming 8.2% cut that will occur if we go off the fiscal speed bump; IMHO the staffing problems and vacancies in the critical positions most likely are due in some small part to past recent cuts and in larger part to dealing with the anticipated cuts.

Thus, the problem is ours and we must own it.  We vote for/or tolerate the most massive military spending the world has ever known; the 15 new Marine fighter jets will cost over $1 trillion before they are done and Congress isn't even sure they will work.  We are seriously considering raising the age for SS and Medicare and reducing funding for education.  We  bail out bankers and corporations who fight paying any taxes.

So, if you value our Parks, especially our western Parks that feature nature's grandeur and outdoor experience of sublime quality, you need to make your support known.  You will probably have to take a stand on opposing funding priorities: battlefield parks in the East vs. nature Parks in the West; military bases on 770 overseas locations vs. spending on education vs. Parks.  Paying taxes vs. paying fees.  Sermon over. LOL