If the weather’s good this weekend, I plan on driving through Yosemite on CA120 and down Tioga Pass. I have a tradition of sorts of visiting the park at least once a year, and time is running out in the high country. They say that "stopped vehicles may be ticketed"along Tioga Pass Road…I’m curious to see how they’re enforcing that.
I used bankruptcy as a similar example, I know it isn’t a bankruptcy.
I don’t disagree with you that this whole situation sucks, but let me give you a quote from the man’s own website:
"It is important to understand that this is merely a lease arrangement — this is not a stealth way to dispose of public lands into private hands. These are highly structured arrangements that require the private operator to conform to numerous restrictions. In particular, the private operator may not change or add facilities, services, operating hours, or fees without the agency’s written permission. "
He signed a lease agreement - one that says that the private operator may not change of add operating hours without the agency’s written permission. The agency - which owns the land he is operating on - has had it’s funding removed, and has therefore decided that there will be no operating hours now. Congress has declared that the agency is closed, and so they shut down all of their holdings. It isn’t fair to the vendor or their customers, it might not even be the wisest course of action - but it is the decision that was made.
This goes back to my comparison with a vendor in a sports stadium during a strike. Those stadium vendors sign contract with the teams and hire their own employees, but if the stadium is closed due to a lock out or strike, those vendors are screwed - due to no fault of their own.
I will also note that there is also politics involved here at the agency levels. They are all very concerned about their budget, and want to be sure that Congress and the President understand that if not properly funded, painful cuts and closures will be made.
Finally, just to pick a nit, this company does not operate at National Parks, but at Forest Service sites. Which are lovely in their own right, but do not have the same level of protection placed on them as National Parks, so that some of the National Park specific things I mentioned earlier do not apply in these situations.
Over 2000 law enforcement rangers are still on duty nationwide, ticketing away to their heart’s content. I assume they mean you can only enjoy the view at 35 mph.