A Fool’s Errand – Brought to You by Rep. Kyle Johansen
While preparing to head off alone into the bowels of the Death Star to disable the tractor beam holding theMillenium Falcon captive, Obi Wan Kenobi rhetorically asked of Han Solo, “Who is more foolish? The fool, or the fool who follows him?” I think of such questions sometimes when my legislators act foolishly.
You don’t have to be a lawyer to be a state legislator. You also shouldn’t have to know all the relevant facts in relation to a proposed law in order to sponsor it. But somewhere along the way, someone who knows the law and the facts should step in before a law is proposed. Alaska State Representative Kyle Johansen shows his ignorance of the law and the facts with his sponsorship of HJR31, which calls upon Congress to designate Central Park in Manhattan a wilderness area, and thus prohibit any development absent approval from Congress.
“WTF?” you may rightly ask. Rep. Johansen claims that the goal of the resolution is to bring to light the ridiculousness of Alaskans being prevented from developing the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Apparently Rep. Johansen is not afraid of looking like a total and complete idiot, and also disparaging the intelligence of Alaskans on a national stage, by making this proposal.
The resolution is legally and factually flawed in several ways.
First, only existing federal lands can be set aside as wilderness. The National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) was established by the Wilderness Act of 1964. Under the Act, only existing federal lands are eligible for selection as wilderness, and five specific factors must be satisfied: (1) the land is under federal ownership and management, (2) the area consists of at least five thousand acres of land, (3) human influence is “substantially unnoticeable,” (4) there are opportunities for solitude and recreation, and (5) the area possesses “ecological, geological, or other features of scientific, educational, scenic, or historical value.” Not surprisingly, Rep. Johansen’s proposed resolution does not address these requirements. Central Park would not satisfy at a minimum the first three factors: it’s not federal land, it consists of only 843 acres, and the influence of humans is substantially noticeable.
Second, under the Alaska Statehood Act – similar to all states that joined the Union following the original 13 Colonies – the State of Alaska was entitled to select 103,350,000 acres of land not already set aside by the Federal government for other uses. Alaska has been granted an additional 1.5 million acres of land for university and mental health trust uses. The lands encompassing what is now the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge were never eligible for State selection and have, since the purchase of Alaska from the Russians in 1867, always been Federal lands. Thus, creating the Arctic Refuge never took away from Alaska any land that was ever granted to Alaska.
Third, under the Alaska Constitution, the people of Alaska agreed to be bound by the terms of the Alaska Statehood Act that exclude certain lands from use by Alaska. Specifically, Article 12, Section 12 states: “The State of Alaska and its people forever disclaim all right and title in or to any property belonging to the United States or subject to its disposition, and not granted or confirmed to the State or its political subdivisions, by or under the act admitting Alaska to the Union … The State and its people agree that, unless otherwise provided by Congress, the property, as described in this section, shall remain subject to the absolute disposition of the United States.” Thus, by insisting that the Federal government allow Alaskans to do what they want with lands retained by the Federal government, Rep. Johansen (and virtually every other elected State official on this issue) has violated his oath of office, which includes a promise to “support and defend … the Constitution of the State of Alaska.”
Fourth, as noted above, Central Park is not federal land – it has always belonged to the people of New York. But, if Rep. Johansen is concerned about protecting it from abuse, it was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1963. Plus, simply looking at the park not only in photographs and maps but in person (Rep. Johansen, have you ever been to Central Park? I have …), you can tell it is not under threat of development. There is only one building in the park, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and if the park hasn’t been developed by now, it won’t. One could also say that it is a model for management, as most of the expenses for maintenance of the park are raised by a private non-profit, the Central Park Conservancy, thus alleviating much of that burden from the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.
Finally, the claimed motivation behind Rep. Johansen’s resolution strongly suggests that the portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge where oil companies and State legislators want to develop, what is known as the 1002 Area of the coastal plain, is designated wilderness under the Wilderness Act. It is not.
One could say that Central Park is already like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. An oasis of habitat, surrounded by development (the North Slope region to the immediate west of the Refuge is a vast network of oil and gas infrastructure), it should be left alone to continue providing the valuable habitat it does to the many species that thrive within. In fact, Rep. Johansen’s stunt is a compelling argument in favor of wilderness designation for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s 1002 Area on the coastal plain. The biodiversity and importance of the Arctic Refufe far outweighs that provided in the mere 843 acres seen in Central Park.
Oh, and Rep. Johansen, I would fire your research staff.
The other half of the love connection has been promoting this on her face book page. And this bunch wants to go back to a 120 day session. It’s obvious that they have too much spare time.
I have always thought of our House Resolutions as something we send back to Washington DC just in case those fine east coasters run out of toilet paper.
Half of “The Love Caucus” rears its head. He should be embarrassed to call attention to himself. Now his constituents have another reason to vote him out. His poor judgment is obvious yet again.
Last month Johansen embarrassed himself with error filled diatribe on behalf of the Pebble Mine; now he’s on to ANWR. Methinks Kyle is trying to raise his national profile by making ridiculous, sensational claims. Hey, it worked for Paylin!
This man child should stick to the affairs of his Ketchikan district even while the movement to recall him is underway.
One tiny correction: Central Park, although it was constructed on 843 acres of city-owned land, was not “always” undeveloped before Olmsted and Vaux (who designed all the bridges in the park) designed it (they called it the Greensward Plan). There were quite a number of squatters, many of them black, many Irish, who lived in shantytowns within what is now the park. They were all evicted under eminent domain:
“Before the construction of the park could start, the area had to be cleared of its inhabitants, most of whom were quite poor and either free African Americans or residents of English or Irish origin. Most of them lived in small villages, such as Seneca Village, Harsenville, or the Piggery District; or else in the school and convent at Mount St. Vincent’s Academy. Around 1,600 residents occupying the area at the time, were evicted under the rule of eminent domain during 1857. Seneca Village and parts of the other communities were razed to make room for the park.”
Kyle Johansen needs to have his head examined. There are probably moths flying around between his ears, where the brain should be.
You and Bubbles need to be careful living so close to a potential wilderness area. You never know when the bears are gonna show up. I imagine any day now that the cats out of the bag. Bears all over the country and maybe even a few from Canada are gonna pull up roots and move to New York City.
😉 Haha. A few months back, there was a coyote spotted in the Bronx. I’ve got enough to be concerned about, living on an island at sea level (much of it, anyway). The bears are nearby, but haven’t shown up here yet. Plenty of birds, though, including a juvenile red tail hawk in my neighborhood that hassles “my” birds (the ones I feed, and no, they’re not pigeons).
I only worry about bears when I’m hiking (outside the city, of course); I got really good at stashing my food so they couldn’t steal it.
Over the last few years we’ve been getting some juvenile black bears here in Rochester and the surrounding suburbs (closest to me was about 2 1/2 miles away from my house). They meander up this way from the Southern Tier in the spring when the mama bears give them lunch money and shoo them on their way. If you’d like, I can send some your way the next time they show up!
By the way, aren’t there a bunch of buildings within the park boundaries besides the Met? Like the CP Zoo, for example?
Yes, there are quite a few buildings, including the Delacorte Theatre, the zoo, a police precinct, and various parks department buildings.
Don’t bother sending us bears. If you must, I suggest Staten Island, where they’d have more room to move.
If you want to be reasonably safe in bear country,forget guns and/or pepper spray and take along a really slow rethuglican. You don’t and won’t outrun bears. You just have to outrun ol’ bear bait you brought along with you.
Just what Liberal New York needs is Socialist Canadian bears, Sheesh!
Thank you Mr Johnson!
When I saw an article about this House Resolution of Mr Johansen’s I almost choked.
I hadn’t got much past the what @%$^#$# was he ^%$#$@#! ???? stage
but you did a great job here.
Sure hope other House members pay attention.
I’m getting awfully tired of wearing a bag over my head when I travel Outside.
We have GOT to elect more folks who know more than this poor man does.
Found myself wondering if proposed resolutions go to Leg Affairs law division for vetting like proposed laws do… course elected folks go ahead and push a lot of laws here that Leg law tells them are unconstitutional anyway so likely wouldn’t help . Sigh.
You think he has a research staff? You think they let facts get in the way of legislation?
Central Park is not natural, but is, ahem, landscaped. Designed by the great Frederick Law Olmsted. Constructed 1858 to 1873.
Now Kyle Johansen’s brain — that would make a great wilderness area. Totally unaffected by man.
you can’t call a void a wilderness,,,
either one of these is delicious !!!
I hope you sent a copy of this post to all our state legislators–just in case some other fools are thinking of following him.
When will our Repubs ever stop embarassing Alaska?
Oh, come on, this is par for the course for Mr Johansen. In November of 2011 he was elected as the House majority leader but ended up quitting the majority caucus and losing his position because they wouldn’t give Rep. Charisse Millet, his love interest, the committee chairmanship she wanted. His constituents were ticked at him for giving up a position where he could have done a lot for them. The Ketchican paper called for his resignation. The Alaska Ear in the Anchorage Daily News refers to Johansen and Millet as the Love Caucus. I gotta believe he won’t be reelected because somehow I doubt the people of Ketchican think his latest hair brained scheme is doing any good for them.
Are they still dating?
Oh boy,where to start? First,thank you for giving out the total area,in acres, of Central Park. I’ve wondered about that for years. Secondly,Rethuglicans don’t research,they have no idea what is in the Constitution or how it applies to them and the rest of us Americans and others. Third,they let emotions rule the day,especially how devastated the wealthy will be if they aren’t allowed to exploit every square inch of the Earth’s surface for their own profit. How do these know-nothings manage to get elected? I don’t vote for them.