After years of neglect and under funding, California missions,
including Mission San Juan Bautista, will get federal money for
improvements as a result of new legislation initiated by two
California politicians.
San Juan Bautista – After years of neglect and under funding, California missions, including Mission San Juan Bautista, will get federal money for improvements as a result of new legislation initiated by two California politicians.
The California Missions Preservations Act, authored by U.S. Rep. Sam Farr (D-Carmel) and supported by U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), sailed through the House of Representatives on Wednesday and is on its way to President Bush for a signature that will make it into law.
The decision will award $10 million over a period of five years to all 21 missions, and was lauded as a victory by the California Missions Foundation, a non-partisan non-profit organization dedicated to preserving state missions.
“This comes at an opportune time,” said Dr. Knox Mellon, executive director of the foundation that will decide how the money is spent. “Missions are deteriorating faster than we can start rehabilitation and now we can catch up.”
Mission San Juan Bautista, like most of the 21 missions in California, does not receive support from any governmental agency and relies on visitor fees, proceeds from gift shop sales and donations to maintain the structure and preserve fragile artifacts and documents.
Among the improvements the nearly 200–year–old mission could now be poised to get are surveillance equipment, burglar alarms, temperature controls and upgraded restroom facilities, said Mellon.
Theft is a problem for all California museums, but unlike bigger museums, missions can’t afford to hire people to stand watch over artifacts.
“We are always looking to upgrade security at the mission and are working to bring it up to museum levels,” said Kevin Drabinski, director of communications for the diocese of Monterey, which oversees San Juan’s mission.
Another possible repair for San Juan Bautista is earthquake retrofits because the mission stands excruciatingly close to the San Andreas fault line.
The grant is generous, but it does have a condition: California Missions Foundation must match the federal dollars with private and state funding one-to-one. Mellon says the terms of the law are better than not having any money because the matching grant creates more incentives for potential donors.
“Now we can say, ‘Any money you give us, we’ll double,’ and that is both a challenge and an opportunity,” he said.
California missions get over 5.5 million visitors a year, including crowds of fourth graders who study mission history as part of their curriculum.
“Missions are a huge part of our economy and a tremendous boon to our tourism,” said David Sandretti, communications director for Senator Boxer. “They draw people from all over the world.”
But for as much money as missions attract for California, they seldom see even a fraction of it.
Only three missions –Sonoma, La PurÃsima and Santa Cruz– receive money from the state because they are located on state parks. Others occasionally receive one-time grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, for dire repairs.
Many missions, including San Juan Bautista, have extensive wish lists about the improvements they’d like to see done. But because getting enough money to begin most of them was never a possibility, a whole new era of conservation renaissance is on the horizon.
“Now the conversation heats up and the real assessment begins,” said Grabinski.
Karina Ioffee covers education for the Free Lance. Reach her at (831)637-5566 ext. 335 or [email protected]
