The California Department of Parks and Recreation heard the
cries of contempt from the citizens of San Juan Bautista and is
withdrawing the mechanical animals from its $1.65 million
rehabilitation plan for the Castro-Breen Adobe.
The California Department of Parks and Recreation heard the cries of contempt from the citizens of San Juan Bautista and is withdrawing the mechanical animals from its $1.65 million rehabilitation plan for the Castro-Breen Adobe.
“This is a move in the right direction,” San Juan City Manager Larry Cain said. “But the city needs more time and more clarification to see what the plan has evolved into.”
The city will make comments before the plan is finalized into action.
“It does appear by the press release that they realize the community is not happy,” Cain said.
State park officials said the adobe is long overdue for repairs, which are scheduled to begin in the summer of 2003. Upgrades are planned for the mechanical and electrical systems, which are now more than 30 years old.
But San Juan City Councilmember Dan Reed is still opposed to any type of modernization of the adobe, which was home to the Breen family when they arrived in San Juan after a year-long journey from Iowa with the Donner Party in 1846.
“It should be left to portray history as it is,” Reed said. “The kids need to see what it really was like for those people back then – how they had to live and survive each day of their life.”
Upon hearing that the mechanical animals will be eliminated, Terry Marburger, executive director of the SJB Chamber of Commerce, sighed.
“Thank heaven for that,” she said.
The project still calls for interpretive exhibits on the first floor of the adobe to coincide with the current content of Standards for California Public Schools, especially in history and social science curriculum.
“I don’t see anything wrong with that as long it was an educational tool that would teach the children something,” Marburger said. “But if it’s just entertainment, I don’t agree with that. We don’t need any flashing lights or neon signs.”
Other changes planned for the adobe include expanding the role of Jose Castro, Commandant General of Northern California, who lived in the adobe from 1841 to 1848, when Patrick Breen and his family moved in.
