Consternation

It seemed like everyone had something to complain about when it came to restoring $11 million in funding for the state’s parks system.
Environmental groups protested the cuts the $78 million Environmental Protection Fund, particularly the slash in spending for farmland and habitat protection.
Business groups were unhappy with the increase fees for electronic and toxic waste dumping, as were Republican lawmakers.
Advocate for the parks were upset that Gov. David Paterson used the parks as a political football in his quarrel with the state Legislature in closing a $9.2 billion budget deficit. The state’s fiscal year began on April 1, but a spending plan is yet to be approved.
For his part, Paterson has said the lawmakers resisted in making the tough choices and he was unhappy that the parks had to be shutdown.
“The money to keep the parks could come from alternate sources, but too often the legislators don’t want to cut their special interests,” Paterson said in an interview on WAMC radio in Albany Friday morning. “Our deficit is so severe and our current financial position is so weak we’ve had to make choices that otherwise would be foolish.”