The Vallejo Home, Mission San Francisco Solano and the Sonoma Barracks – officially known as Sonoma State Historic Park – will be closed Thursdays beginning next week.
The budget-cutting move will likely be in place at least until June 30, the end of the state’s fiscal year. Jack London Park will also be closed Thursdays, according to Mary Pass, state parks superintendent for the Silverado Sector.
“It’s a strategy to save money,” she said. “Thursdays tend to be the slowest day.
The weekly closure will help consolidate work hours for a staff stretched thin by a hiring freeze and the state’s mandatory furlough policy. “We don’t have staff to fill the furlough,” Pass said.
There should be ten rangers per shift on the Sonoma properties, she said. Working with less “is not what we normally do or what we would like to do.”
Pass said the current staffing level of seven or eight rangers per shift “is bare bones. We’re at a minimal-staffing level, not full-scale.”
The staff levels will ensure public safety, but not always optimum service. Bathrooms are cleaned once a day, for instance, but might not get checked twice. “We can’t be like Disneyland,” said Pass.
The budget cuts also put on hold numerous maintenance programs. Pass said the list of projects include re-roofing and re-painting of buildings, replacing stairs behind the Vallejo House, adobe work at the Barracks and more. Complicating the plans is that work on the park’s significant buildings can be more exacting and expensive. “There’s a higher standard for historic structures,” Pass said.
Sonoma State Historic Park drew 500,000 visitors last year. Admission, which was raised in August, is $3 per adult and $2 for ages up to 17. “It’s high in visitation, but only moderate in revenue,” regarding the park revenue according to Dave Gould, district superintendent.
The Mission hosted school visits on Thursdays, but materials used for those history lessons were destroyed in an arson fire in August. The classes have since been held at the Petaluma Adobe State Park.
“We will try to honor school appointments (in Sonoma),” said Pass. “We’re trying to keep the school programs going. It’s one of the reasons we’re here. If we don’t provide school programs, we’re failing our mission.”
