Save Tennessee's Fall Creek Falls State Park and Conference Center

Hands off!!!!

Comment by Rob Mitchell December 19, 2016 at 3:16 pm There are arguments for and against privatization of government services. On the one hand proponents will tell you that private industry can manage services or projects more efficiently than the government. I will concede that in some cases that may be true. In the instance of Fall Creek Falls I do not believe that is the case. I do not believe it will cost the citizens of the communities impacted nor the State less money to demolish and privatize than to renovate and continue under state management. There will be no money saved on demolition of the facility as private contractors will be hired to do a majority of the work. They work to make a profit. Renovations on the other hand might be accomplished with employees already employed by the state. (1 point for renovation) While the facility is closed for demolition there will be no income coming in to the facility to offset costs while renovation could be done in phases.(1 point for renovation) Employees will be terminated or furloughed while the demolition is occurring impacting both disposable local income and impacting the cost to pay unemployment by the state to those employees. This would not happen in renovation.( 2 points for renovation) Once reopened the new facility would offer less space for families and couples and more space for business conferences. This inflates the price to enjoy the services and takes them out of financial reach to those most likely to use them. This is counter to the mission of our state parks.( 3 points for renovation) What we will get is a fancy and expensive conference center paid for with our tax dollars which caters to large conventions and seminars that will be too expensive for most of us to enjoy and which makes a profit for a private contractor who pays minimum wage jobs with no benefits.( how do you score that?) Not to mention that the loss of wages and sales tax revenue will negatively impact the

We have now passed 2100 signatures! #TNnotforsale #Savefallcreekfalls !

I have stayed at this park on numerous occasions and disagree with privatizing.

We love Fall Creek Falls. Please do not privatize the lodge at this park.

This is an outrage!

I am totally against privatization. Governor Haslam should honor the wishes of the public.

Tennessee's iconicly beautiful landmarks should belong to everyone without having a restriction

Our state parks are a precious resource. I know there has to be better ways to save money.

Stop this now. We do not need to privatize our state parks. This needs to stop or we will watch all our state parks being given away to corporate interests, and priced out of bounds for the citizens who own them.

Please don't do this to our beloved Fall Creek Falls Inn & Conference Ctr. We love it just the way it is. Please keep it. We don't need a more modern facility.

Don't privatize our state park.

Please don't do this to fall creek falls state park , I was born and raised here and have many childhood memories here. This is so important for so many Tennessee people.

Please keep this awesome Park, public!!! Thank you

This place was the favorite of my now deceased sister, Joan and I. We visited every month, starting in the fall, until spring, for so many years, until she passed away unexpectedly in 2011, at age 57. We always requested to stay in the same landside cabin and did so, most every time we visited. We enjoyed the decorations at Christmas in the Inn, and eating at the restaurant there, and taking pictures and making videos. The atmosphere is priceless. I am so grateful for the videos and the many pictures I have of our trips together there. My sister's last Christmas trip was in December, 2010, prior to her sudden death just one month later, in January, 2011. In fact, we were to return on MLK Day from a future previously scheduled January trip there in 2011, and instead, we unexpectedly had her funeral that same day. Please re-consider, and try to preserve this area, in its full original state, as it remains, and hopefully establish another plan to increase state revenue. This place is one of the most beautiful. we think on earth, and so needs to remain just as it is now, since there are so few similarly peaceful, and refreshing places left on earth today.

This is a wonderful park and it draws people from all over. My parents have been there many times for their anniversary and vacations. I love our beautiful state parks and the support they bring to an area. Privatizing will only serve to drive up the cost of the park and the rooms and cabins for it. It would make it much less accessible to many more people. This does not need to happen- everyone needs to be able to take their kids into nature. It's a great way to get them involved in healthy activities, environmental preservation, and science lessons. It would be a real shame to make the park for profit and deny access to many Tennesseans who are scraping by and cannot afford to spend the extra on a luxury that was an affordable, family friendly option before.

Please stop for our future generations

Like the school bus out sourcing in the Chattanooga school system - nothing good has come from dumping responsibilities over to someone else.

No way...

I'm a State employee that enjoys working for the State, sometimes I don't know why, like this one.