Our community's desire for land acquisition may be rivaled only by the passion displayed in Gone with the Wind. "The land," Scarlett's father says to her, "is the only thing that matters." Could be.

This is our Training Hill!

It's especially true if the land comes with ocean views, We all know that from a distance, on a hill-top, above the big Pacific, you can see forever. And forever must be that elusive and timeless feeling that fuels our appetite for saving and acquiring land with said views. Hence, the year-end races for important public land acquisitions.
     Sandwiched between the battle two years ago for the Wilcox property (aka the Douglas Family Preserve) and the new competition for the Carpinteria Bluffs is an old but steady campaign by the Las Positas Park Foundation (LPPF) to acquire the Jesuit property. This land is 134 pristine and stunning acres situated adjacent to Las Positas Friendship Park (which the foundation owns and manages) and across Cliff Drive from the Douglas Family Preserve. The property hosts the pilots who train the colorful paragliders and hikers who climb Sierra Club trails. It is open to the public and their dogs.
     The warm feelings we have from the successful campaign for the Wilcox property should not put the cold facts that the park foundation has only until New 1 Year's Eve to come up with a final balloon payment of $1.05 million. We have-$500,000 to go. Once our debt is paid, plans are in place to develop more picnic areas, trails, and a great meadow for concerts and special gatherings.
     Recently, I had lunch on the hill-top site with a new friend, but a longtime native of the area, Like many, he had never ventured up on the site but he had always won-dered about it And like many who experience the hilltop views, he was awed and he snapped a photo.
     With similar emotion, I am always transfixed by the magic of this property no matter how often I visit. It is a confluence of geological miracles and views that accent the spiritual giving of that special feeling of forever. My hope is that the land will be there forever so generations to come may have similar experiences.
     However, like most newcomers to the park and the hill, my friend was surprised that a nonprofit foundation owned the park and was acquiring the land. He is not alone in his thinking. The truth is: Outside of a tight circle of interested citizens and some park users, the majority of Santa Barbara still thinks that the park is owned and operated by the city or county. It is not.
     Las Positas Friendship Park is one of the few nonprofit parks in the United States. The reality is that we compete for private funding along with the rest of the 300-plus nonprofits in town and all the public groups trying to acquire land.
     If it is true that the land is the only thing that matters, then I hope the citizens of Santa Barbara will step forward and help complete the acquisition of this magnificent property. We too have naming rights available. When the acquisition is comp1eted, there is not just a single reward of more public land. There will be a visual doubleheader-a long and wide corridor of green, open, and recreational space with many ocean views nonstop from the beach way down Las Positas Road. What a feeling that will create.
     For more information, contact Lynn Holley at Las Positas Friendship Park 805-569-6511 or send your donations to LPPF at PO Box 30818, SB, CA 93130-0818. if you wish to visit the hilltop, it is open to the public and accessible by foot from either Cliff Drive or from Las Positas Friendship Park. The road up to the top is accessible from Cliff Drive when the gate is open with a vehicle suited for travel on dirt and gravel roads.