If you ask the average person about the best ways to close Albany's budget gap, it's probable that shutting down state parks wouldn't be on that list. That's because it shouldn't take a genius (or even a New York State governor) to realize that the cost of running the state parks is far lower than the revenues and benefits those same parks provide to the state.

But, despite it being obvious that it's not a case of over-funded state parks causing Albany's budgetary woes (in fact, the state's Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation's budget has been cut by 35 percent in the last three years), a plan to close a number of the state's parks is currently on the table in our state capital.

While it's true that cutting costs has long been overdue on the part of our state's leadership, looking to close down parks is simply the wrong way to go. Ignoring the jobs created by the parks themselves, which would be lost if the parks were to close, the economic impact such a closure would have on all of the ancillary businesses that support the tourist trade would be devastating. Communities throughout the Hudson Valley-area would see a massive drop-off in the tourist traffic that routinely floods the region during the warm months bringing dollars from outside of the region — and even from out of state — to our local businesses. So many of these businesses depend on that seasonal traffic to make up for shortfalls they experience during the off-season that it wouldn't be surprising if many of them closed as a result. And that means even fewer tax dollars going to Albany. How does that solve any kind of budget problem?

Even more absurd, the Walkway Over the Hudson is on the list of threatened state parkland. The Walkway just opened towards the end of last year to much fanfare, celebrating the 400th anniversary of the Hudson River's discovery. Closing the Walkway before even being open for a year would be a massively boneheaded move, effectively wasting the millions of dollars that went into opening it.