Park Animals are fuming over rumours that the 2014 budget includes an increase in funding to promote tourism.

The rumours, which were published this morning in several Park newspapers, have added fuel to Park residents’ anger about the budget and about the Archons’ push to make The Park a popular tourist destination.

“The Park Finance Office should be ashamed of itself for even considering it, and so should the Archons,” Emmanuelle Musaraigne told reporters at a hastily-called press conference this afternoon.

Musaraigne, who is president of the recently-formed anti-tourism group, NoPARKing, mnaged to assemble her membership within minutes of hearing the rumour. Some even came prepared, carrying signs that simply said, “NO!”

“We will protest and we will protest until this thing is removed from the budget,” Musaraigne declared at the end of the conference.

“And we will boycott this ill-conceived three-prong tourism plan entirely unless the Finance Office and the Tourist Office show some respect for Park citizens,” she said.

The plan, which was introduced last year as a scheme to open up a new revenue stream for The Park, has continued to be controversial and unpopular among Park residents. Last year, some particularly infuriated members of the group, Keep Your Paws out of Our Ponds, set up barriers in the new tourist areas in the hope of discouraging return visitors.

Wellington Whistlepig, founder and current president of the Park Association of Shops and Services (PASS) says that while there is no proof that tourists benefit The Park’s economy, there is ample evidence that they are destroying our pristine environment : ”It’s not as if they buy anything from our shops or even from our restaurants,” he says. “They insult us by bringing their own food and drink and leaving the garbage behind for us to clean up.”

But The Park’s immigrant aid groups say they fear an even more devastating possibility: that funds that have previously gone to assisting refugees and new immigrants might be diverted to this new tourism plan.

“We are a Park of immigrants and refugees, some of whom have fled the very creatures we are now being told to welcome and to serve. This is a very dangerous path for us to follow,” says Inez Gallina of Home to Roost.

Another “Mongoose Summer“ is upon us and there are many in The Park who are hoping that this one will be a game changer.

After months of experiencing temperatures that have fluctuated between too cold and too hot and skies that have been predominantly cloudy, Animal groups have begun to voice their concerns not only about the way in which weather is funded and purchased in The Park, but about the way in which the issue of weather, itself, is viewed by Park officials.

“I don’t believe the Archons or The Park Finance Office or whoever ultimately makes the budget decisions in this Park fully understands the importance of weather,” says A.P. Civet, of the Society of Concerned Park Cultivators, Planters, Growers, and Farmers (SCPCPGF).

According to Civet, the past few years have seen the worst harvests in Park history and he says he knows why.

“At the same time as The Park Finance Office and the [past] Archons have rented out portions of The Park’s farmland to Humans, they’ve cut back on financing weather that could bring us a bountiful harvest. When asked about this decision, the PFO can only say that it has budgeted for the importing of food, if necessary. My question is, why should we have to import food? The PFO doesn’t seem to understand something very basic: Animals cannot eat money. Without the proper weather and enough farmland, we cannot feed ourselves. This is a very important issue and one that all Park Animals should pay attention to before it is too late,” says Civet.

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The Park’s weathermakers agree. A few months ago, their group criticized Finance Officers for purchasing cheap and inferior weather from outside The Park.

“Cost is all they care about,” says Kalliope Sun Bear, president of the Weather Makers, Producers and Sellers Alliance of The Park (WMPSAP).

“They don’t look at quality or whether it’s appropriate weather for The Park. And they seem to have forgotten that we [WMPSAP) have a degree of expertise that outsiders simply don’t have,” Sun Bear says.

Many Park business owners, particularly those in the food business, have been sounding the alarm for some time.

“We have been suffering from their [The PWO] short-sightedness for years,” says Beatrice T. Orang of Provisions by Petrounel.

This year, however, they say they will keep up their protests until something is done.

“It’s about the future of The Park and, ultimately, about our independence. It’s worth fighting for, for as long as it takes,” says Orang.

The Park Weather Office finally has offered a response to Animals’ complaints about the delay in the arrival of Spring weather this year. But it’s not an explanation that is satisfying to many.

In the statement released yesterday, the PWO says that transport difficulties were responsible for Spring’s tardiness.

The statement, which was issued to all media, read in part:

“We would like to inform Park Animals that, after a lengthy investigation, The Park Weather Office has concluded that transport difficulties were the cause of the tardy arrival of Spring weather this year.”

The statement went on to say that the PWO “will do everything in its power to ensure that this situation does not reoccur.”

Although the statement may have been issued in an attempt to placate an angry public, it appears to have done just the opposite.

“It’s no surprise that the PWO is blaming someone else,” says Kalliope Sun Bear, president of the Weather Makers, Producers and Sellers Alliance of The Park (WMPSAP), whose members have alleged that they are being shut out of the weather-purchasing process by The Park Finance Office’s commitment to cost-cutting.

“It has consistently refused to take responsibility for its bad decisions and this is just one more example of that,” she says.

Those bad decisions, according to Sun Bear, include purchasing cheap weather and weather that is produced outside the Park.

“The PWO says that, due to budget cuts, it has been forced to look elsewhere for better weather prices. It has totally ignored the fact that The Park produces some of the best weather that can be had. Even if it is slightly more expensive in the short run, it would save The Park a substantial amount in the long run, as we wouldn’t have to import as much food as we have been doing the last few years,” Sun Bear says.

For its part, the PWO says that it is reviewing its purchasing policies and will submit the results of that review in time for the new budget, which is due in mid-July.

See also:

Park weathermakers fume over losses to outside bidders
DWBS shuts down Otter Slide following tragic accident
Otter Slide in jeopardy as victim released from hospital
Park Weather Office blasts budget, proposes radical change
Evidence presented at Mongoose trial sparks criticism of Park weather practices