Thinking big in commercializing parks

President Bush's nominee for Secretary of the Interior, would be a good fit for the administration of Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker. Walker wants more coffee shops, restaurants and retail shops in Milwaukee parks. He just hasn't been thinking big enough.

The NY Times reports:

EAGLE, Idaho, April 6 — Eagle Island State Park here has horse-riding trails, picnic tables and a water slide. Under a recent compromise between the Idaho Legislature and Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, President Bush's nominee to oversee the nation's public lands as secretary of the interior, the park may one day get its own gravel mine, too.

Aides to Mr. Kempthorne defend gravel mining at Eagle Island, outside Boise, as a way to raise money for park improvements without causing undue environmental harm. But others see it as a lobbed softball that his critics in the United States Senate will smack toward the fences at his confirmation hearing, raising questions about his judgment and environmental priorities.

Surely there is at least one Milwaukee County park that could double as a gravel pit, or a county forest that could include a sawmill. Can't wait for Walker's next budget.