Friends of state park to organize Saturday

Friends of Palomar Mountain State Park will hold their organizational meeting Saturday, Feb. 4,  11:30 a.m. at the Palomar Mountain Community Center, 21610 Crestline Rd., (next to the fire station).

The meeting will be held in conjunction with the regularly scheduled Palomar Mountain Planning Organization meeting at 10 a.m., which is open to the community.

Rick Barclay chairman of the Friends and Michael Walsh, vice chairman, will give an update on the process of working with the State Parks Dept. to reach an agreement to keep Palomar State Park open. The park is one of 70 parks slated for closure due to budget cuts. Campgrounds are closed already and the park is open for day use only. Full closure will take place this July 1.

According to Barclay, “The primary objective of the meeting is to reach out to the broader community of interested parties to identify additional volunteers, gather and exchange ideas, and begin to form the organization and map out strategies and responsibilities as we work together to keep our park open and operating.”

This is the first of several meetings the group plans to hold in the next few months. People who want to join the effort can indicate interest by visiting www.palomarsp.org/friends/survey.htm.

One of the main activities of the group is raising money to keep the park alive. “Meeting our initial funding objective will send a strong message of strength and commitment to the Parks Department, that we can and will do our very best to keep the park open!” said Barclay. You will find pledge forms at www.palomarsp.org/friends/pledge_form.htm

The group is only $9,000 away from reaching its first year pledge target of $60,000, says Barclay.

“We kicked off the pledge drive just two weeks ago, but there’ve been a couple of special developments. First, we got a super generous $30,000 matching pledge challenge from a couple in Rancho Santa Fe, Bob and Marion Wilson. If we can raise $30,000 in pledges and donations, they’ll match it.

“Second, we've reaped an excellent outpouring of support from other fans all over southern California and beyond... New York, Hawaii, we even have a couple of pledges from Selkirk, Scotland. That's how popular this jewel of a park is. So far, we’ve raised $21,000 in pledges and donations. That means all we have to do is raise $9,000 more and we’ll meet the $30,000 pledge challenge. So as it stands now, we can turn $9,000 into $60,000—I defy anyone to show me a better deal,” he says.

Last month the Friends submitted a proposal to the Parks Dept. in Sacramento with this offer: If Sacramento keeps the park open, the Friends will cover the gap between revenue and operating costs.

“The park brings in a goodly amount of money... just not quite enough to break even," says Barclay. “It would be shame to close the park just because of a near miss.” The park would continue to be operated by regular park staff. “We’re not aiming to run the park; we just want to support it financially so that it can continue to be operated by professionals.”

The $60,000 will keep the park open and help pay for deferred maintenance and repairs that have been neglected because of budget cutbacks over the years.

So far Sacramento hasn’t given the Friends an answer, says Barclay, “but they have asked questions and at least no one is saying ‘no,’ so I take that as a positive sign. Our first year target of $60,000 could change, depending on the agreement we eventually work out with Sacramento.”

People won’t be asked to actually donate until they do reach an agreement. Right now they are just asking for pledges of support.

Friends of Palomar Mountain State Park is currently operating as a division of CRSPIA, the non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable association that has been supporting Cuyamaca Rancho State Park since the 1970s and Palomar Mountain State Park since the 1980s. However, all donations to Friends of Palomar will go to Palomar exclusively.