How to Fund Historic Preservation

Here is an excerpt from a Letter to the Editor I wrote. If you agree please call or email the Sonoma/Petaluma State Historic Parks Association - especially if you want the EVENT COORDINATOR position!
Email: info@sonomaparks.org
Phone Number: (707) 935-6832

I propose that the Sonoma/Petaluma State Historic Parks Association, already an approved State Parks concessionaire, hire an Events Coordinator to market and manage weddings and small outdoor events at the Mission, the Barracks, the Toscano Hotel Complex, the Blue Wing and Vallejo’s beautiful home on 3rd Street West.

Start small and build on success. Money will be generated to heat the buildings, replace the roofs, repaint, repair old windows, do earthquake retrofits, spruce up landscaping and replace electrical systems so 2 coffee pots don’t blow all the fuses.

Using the grounds of these buildings to generate revenue for their maintenance will be the least expensive, least invasive way to preserve these buildings – and their stories, which will be shared with visitors for generations to come. Most importantly, the money generated will stay in this park and not be shunted off to the General Fund.

I encourage you to take a tour of the Mission and Toscano Hotel Saturdays and Sundays 1-3pm. For $3 dollars per person you can get into the Mission, the Barracks, the Toscano (a free museum), Vallejo’s Home on 3rd Street West, and Vallejo’s Petaluma Adobe. It’s the best and cheapest entertainment in town. Hear the stories, learn about the people who lived here. You’ll love them! And you will come to love these very special buildings.

http://www.sonomanews.com/fund-historic-restoration/#.U0GlUVdnByU