Surfing in the Era of Endless Subscriptions

[Howly Wolf]

Greetings all from crime ridden Portland! My Soros Security Check cleared today, so I was vintage shopping in the up & coming World War II district (foodie heaven btw! Check out the lunch specials at An Tè Phở Bun Bo) when it occurs to me, damn! it's October 1st and I need to re-up my surf subscriptions! As you surely know by now, Oswald & South Beach, as well as several other state parks, went premium and an OSP pass is now required. Guess that's the way of the world Time to pony up and add yet another tag to the dash with the Discovery pass, Tillamook County pass, Coastal Passport, Makah Recreation Pass, NW Forest Pass, etc. etc. etc. forever and ever.

What say you comrades-- how do you feel about paying more & more to surf the same ol' spots? Liberal tears or RESIST?

Personally, I think it'd be nice to have a little extra scratch for an artisan cocktail at The Hellfire, but the woker angels of my nature feel it's important to support the beautiful and increasingly crowded spots that have provided so much enjoyment for us all.

End communique. Free Leonard Peltier!

[BOX]

Personally, I think the new rates at South Beach should be quadrupled. Nature should only be for those of us with means. These woke communist lowlifes should quit it with their “my state taxes should give me access to my own state parks” BS. If poor people want to enjoy nature and the beach then they should just work harder so they can afford it instead of asking for unrealistic and unearned handouts like public park access. My great grandfather didn’t build his wealth exploiting emerald mine workers just so I would have to sit around and listen to my servants complain about the price of eggs every day. Instead of wasting that time at the beach reconnecting with nature for the good of their own mental and physical health perhaps they should just pick up a third or fourth job so they can afford those luxuries that they think they are entitled to. And the price of gas? Problem solved. Think of all of the money they’ll save by not wasting that fuel driving back and forth for their frivolous beach day trips. Once the demand goes down, then the price will go down and it will be much cheaper for my driver to fill up my three Cybertrucks. Win-win for all.

Now if you excuse me, I have an underground bunker in New Zealand that I need to finish fortifying before the private boat comes to pick up Zuck and I for some tasty waves that he owns the sole access to. If you're lucky maybe I'll trickle something down on you all. See you at the jetty (or not).

[BOX]

Seriously, though, I believe in supporting the parks as well. I don't really like the $10 daily fee and I really do worry about the financial barrier to entry for what should be public spaces for all, but I understand that without the political will to fund these things through tax dollars this is what we need to do in order to ironically keep them open for the public. I wish it was different, but that's the reality.

I buy an OSP pass each year anyway. It's usually in my wife's car, though. What's the rule on that anyway? One pass per car, or one pass per family? Cuz I could use a duplicate for sure.

Regarding South Beach, I think this will just cause folks to park in alternate spots than the main park entrance and just end up causing congestion/parking nightmares elsewhere. But that's the city's problem, not the state's, though, right?