Local park closures threaten San Juan Bautista’s livelihood
The periodic Friday closure of the Hollister DMV has been
inconvenient; the upcoming one-Wednesday-a-month closure of the San
Benito County courts will slow the wheels of justice; but news of
the potential closure of Fremont Peak and the San Juan Bautista
State Historic Park is downright sad.
Local park closures threaten San Juan Bautista’s livelihood
The periodic Friday closure of the Hollister DMV has been inconvenient; the upcoming one-Wednesday-a-month closure of the San Benito County courts will slow the wheels of justice; but news of the potential closure of Fremont Peak and the San Juan Bautista State Historic Park is downright sad.
All of these closures – or planned closures – are the unfortunate result of our state’s budget mess. Nearly 100 parks are expected to be on the closure list that is expected to come out on Labor Day weekend, so visit a park while you can.
As my colleague Melissa Flores notes in her story on page B1, park advocates – in San Benito County and elsewhere – are meeting to figure out ways to either prevent the closures or to find sources of revenue that will allow the parks to stay open.
The potential closure of the San Juan historic park would also close a living history book for the tens of thousands of California school kids who travel there annually to walk through structures dating back to the 1800s. The Plaza Hotel, the Zanetta House and Plaza Hall, the stables, the blacksmith shop, the jail, the settler’s cabin, and yes, the Castro-Breen Adobe, would all likely be shuttered if the park ends up on the closure list.
My familial ties to the adobe probably make me more sensitive to this issue than some, but me being a dad, teacher and San Benito County resident help me realize what a blow to the gut the closure of this historic treasure would be.
The potential closure of Fremont Peak, a historic and astronomic resource, is a double blow, since it, too, has an impact on the local economy of the Mission City and, ultimately, our county.
A recent story in the Arizona Republic about the impact of budget-induced park closures on small communities made our local situation that much more upsetting.
After the state of Arizona closed Jerome State Historic Park and Tonto Natural Bridge State Park in February as part of a $34 million park budget cut, the towns of Jerome and Payson felt the economic pinch.
“Hotel bookings have slowed and shops and restaurants see fewer customers,” The Republic reported, foreshadowing what The Pinnacle is likely to report in a few months if San Juan’s parks are closed.
Jerome, Arizona’s smallest incorporated town “is home to an eclectic mix of art galleries, wineries and historic sites,” the newspaper reported. “The state park was a major draw for the community’s tourism industry.” See the San Juan parallels?
Tourists will no doubt still come to San Juan to tour the Mission or go antiquing or browse at an arts and crafts festival, regardless of whether the historic park or Fremont Peak remains open. But the thousands of visitors who want to walk back in time through historic buildings on the Mission Plaza or look to the heavens at the Fremont Peak observatory will have less reason to visit, and therefore their valuable dollars will not reach our county.
In California, day-use fees at state parks were bumped from $3 to $5 this week and overnight camping fees were increased by as much as $10 per night. It’s still not enough to make up for a nearly $52 million cut that our parks are staring at this year and next.
Saturday’s meeting of the Fremont Peak Observatory Association is the first step in what will hopefully become a strong grassroots effort to keep the park open. The California State Parks Foundation has launched a Save Our State Parks (SOS) campaign designed to raise awareness and generate action to stop at least some of the proposed park closures. More information is available at www.savestateparks.org.
In the two weeks that remain before Labor Day and the release of some bad news for parks, consider visiting our local treasures. Park in downtown San Juan, stroll through the historic park buildings, have a great lunch, check out some antiques, then drive up to Fremont Peak to take in the view of our county and the ocean at the same time. If you’re there after dark and it’s not foggy, look skyward for one of the best views of the sky available in California.
And while you’re looking up, say a little prayer for our parks.
Adam Breen writes a blog at http://thebreenblog.blogspot.com and teaches newspaper and yearbook classes at San Benito High School. He is a reporter at The Pinnacle and former editor of the Free Lance.
