http://www.pe.com/localnews/rivcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_S_citrus29.43671c0.html
Riverside leaders vow to keep citrus park open
12:21 PM PDT on Wednesday, July 29, 2009
By ALICIA ROBINSON and JIM MILLER
The Press-Enterprise
Riverside city leaders are vowing to keep California Citrus State Historic Park open as state parks officials look to cut $14 million from their budget and close as many as 100 parks.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday chopped another $6 million from state parks funding, on top of the $8 million cut in the budget legislators sent him last week.
Unless outside groups step up with financial or other assistance, the department likely will begin closing roughly 100 of the state's 279 parks after Labor Day, state parks director Ruth Coleman said.
"We are really actively seeking partners to keep those parks open," Coleman said.
Mark Zaleski/The Press-Enterprise
California Citrus State Historic Park volunteer George Molchan, left,
explains the different kinds of fruit trees at the park in Riverside to
Lilith Myers, 4, and her father, Bryan Watts, of Hemet. City officials
say they want to keep the park open.
Parks officials have not decided which facilities should go on the closure list.
The Citrus State Historic Park on Dufferin Avenue, which includes about 180 acres of citrus groves and a visitors' center that details the history of citrus cultivation statewide and locally, has been targeted for closure twice in the past year and a half as state officials tried to erase a multi-billion dollar deficit.
City officials say they're determined the citrus park won't be among those shut, but they don't have a specific plan.
"This park is just not going to be closed," Riverside City Councilman Chris Mac Arthur said. "There is too much from the community invested in this park."
Riverside Councilman Mike Gardner suggested the city could negotiate with the state to take possession of the park. Mayor Ron Loveridge said another alternative is a long-term lease under which the city would run the park.
For now, city officials are waiting news from the state and working on a Plan B even as they hope they won't need it.
"The state has gone to the brink before and then backed off," Mac Arthur said.
Citrus lovers have rallied to help the park before, forming a nonprofit group soon after the park's 1993 opening to pay for facilities and manage the citrus groves. The nonprofit Citrus Park Management Corporation still helps operate the park. Corporation board president Larry Paulsen could not be reached for comment.
But Traci Verardo-Torres, vice president of government affairs at the California State Parks Foundation, said nonprofit organizations and local governments are unlikely to take over any closed parks.
"In general, operating state parks is not what nonprofits do," she said. Budget problems, she said, leave cities and counties "with less capacity to do anything."
Revenue and attendance are among the criteria that will be used to determine which parks close, and that has some citrus park supporters worried.
The park had about 72,000 visitors in 2008. State data show at least 19 parks saw fewer than 10,000 guests last year, while the most popular parks logged more than a million annual visitors.
The citrus park also operates at a deficit, costing about $250,000 to $300,000 to operate while bringing in about $60,000 annually, said Ron Krueper, superintendent of the state parks' Inland Empire district.
"If they're going to close parks, it's high on the list of ones to close," Gardner said.
Visitors weren't exactly lining up to get into the park on a recent Saturday, but volunteer docent George Molchan made sure all who came signed the guest book.
"That way, when the governor says he wants to close the park, we can say, 'No, look at all the visitors we have!' " he told one couple.
Several people touring the park called it an important resource for children who may not have seen a citrus grove or tasted an orange right from the tree.
"Oranges and citrus is what made most of California, so I think people should know more about it," said Juanita Dufresne, a Corona resident who brought relatives from Pennsylvania to see the park.
Other Inland area parks on a closure list in May included Chino Hills State Park and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.
At that time, officials expected to close as many as 220 parks.
Reach Alicia Robinson at 951-368-9461 or arobinson@PE.com
Reach Jim Miller at 916-445-9973 or jmiller@PE.com 
