Monday, April 18, 2005
Raising $6.3 million in public and private funds in a year is no small feat.
Doing it in the past year - with all of its financial uncertainties - is a small
miracle. Yet that is what supporters of a plan to convert a 1,700-acre ranch
outside Petaluma into a regional park have managed to do.
The problem is
they've fallen $2.7 million short of their goal. The group had hoped to raise
half of the $18 million purchase price for the Tolay Lake Ranch. The other half
would be covered by the county's Agricultural Preservation and Open Space
District. And time is running out. An option to buy the property from the
Cardoza family expires on Wednesday.
But the deal can still be saved if
the Open Space District and the county make up the difference. The Board of
Supervisors, which will vote on this matter on Tuesday, should do so. Too much
money and effort have been devoted to this to let it fall through the cracks at
this point.
Tolay Ranch has the potential to be the regional park that
the county has long desired in the south. It also happens to be a beautiful
piece of land that the public should be able to enjoy forever.
The
supervisors should vote to make up this shortfall - and keep this deal
alive.