I am saddened to read in The Columbian (“Parking fees to return to parks,” March 3) that the county is reinstating its old policy of charging $3 for its citizens to enter and use its most popular parks effective April 3. After the fees were removed in 2013 park use exploded.
Charging county citizens a $3 fee for the use of parks that they have already paid for is a terrible idea. It is the most regressive policy, and it hurts the poorest among us the most.
Reinstating the charge is justified by claiming that the users have littered and damaged the parks. So the answer is to penalize the poorest, rather than controlling the problem through use of better enforcement of park rules.
I miss David Madore.
