Park needs a friend

Las Positas Friendship Park facing a payment deadline

11/7/98

A couple of years ago, actor Michael Douglas flew into town on the wings of an angel and gave the final $600,000 needed to complete the purchase of the Wilcox property. Being the angel gave Douglas the privilege of naming the property, which he dedicated to his father Kirk, by naming it the Douglas Family Preserve, about 70 acres of blufftop beauty overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Now the Las Positas Park Foundation needs a little winged help. If the foundation can't come up with the final $500,000 installment to complete the purchase of the Jesuit property, the owners may foreclose. The foundation has until the final day of this year to find the money and finalize the deal.

This is not unlike the final push for the purchase of the Wilcox property, except that it lacks the huge public response and publicity associated with that fund drive, and it is competing with an end-of-the-year deadline faced by groups trying to purchase a large piece of the Carpinteria bluffs to make that a public place.

The main difference is that Las Positas Friendship Park already is one of the most popular regional park/recreation areas on the South Coast. More than 60,000 people a year visit the park, which consists of about 94 acres of ball fields, picnic areas, BMX course, trails and a grove where outdoor events such as weddings are held. The Jesuit property consists of 136 acres between the park proper and Cliff Drive, and directly across Cliff from the Douglas Family Preserve.

This is, in all honesty, a deal too good to lose.

The foundation agreed to buy the property from the California Province of the Society of Jesus in 1994 for $2.5 million. Any real estate expert will tell you that paying $2.5 million for 136 acres in Santa Barbara is the deal of a lifetime. To make it even sweeter, the Jesuits donated $1 million of that price back to the foundation. Since then, about $1 million has been raised, leaving the shortfall of $500,000.

The foundation was slightly hampered at the early stages of the deal because it didn't want to mount a highly publicized fund drive that would have been in competition with Wilcox property effort. Now the group finds itself in a bind, with only a few weeks to raise money to make the balloon payment.

In fact, if a really big angel flies onto the scene, the whole park could have a new name. Foundation officials indicate that if a donor gives enough to complete the purchase agreement with the Jesuits, plus money to set up a permanent endowment fund that would be used to permanently operate the park, that person could select a name for the entire package. There also are naming opportunities for smaller donors - benches and trees in the park for contributions of $1,000. The foundation recently received 160 oak saplings it hopes will attract donors.

This is a rare opportunity for some individual or group to do something extraordinary for the community - and to ensure a legacy that would become part of Santa Barbara's history. The contribution the Douglas family made on behalf of the Wilcox purchase will never be forgotten. We have a lot of angels in our midst. Las Positas Friendship Park needs a visit from one of them - and soon.