State Park Closure Plans Not Yet Formulated

If the Benicia Capitol State Historic Park is shuttered, the outward appearance won't change much. The main difference will be that the doors will be locked and no one will be able to go inside.

The picture for the Benicia State Recreation Area is less clear. Will the state try to block the parking lot at the end of West K Street?  Will the bike and pedestrian pathway between the west end of downtown and Rose Drive be open or will the California Department of Parks and Recreation shut down the only viable pedestrian and bicycle link between Benicia and Vallejo?

No one knows.  State parks spokesman Roy Stearns could only say that the gate leading into the park will be padlocked.  There is only one gate that can be locked.  That gate crosses the road just past the maintenance yard and, without the addition of more fence, will keep only cars out, not pedestrians or bicyclists.

Stearns and the rest of the staff at the state parks department have more questions than answers at this point because, as Stearns points out, they never have had to close a park, much less 70 parks.

Steve Bachman, the acting superintendent of the Diablo Vista District of the California Department of Parks and Recreation wasn't available for comment Monday.

The Benicia Capitol State Historic Park is one of the city's main historic assets with its prominent downtown location. It isn't the only one, though, and even shuttered it will continue to be part of the marketing plan for Benicia.

"I'd say it's a pothole in the road," said acting Economic Development Director Mario Giuliani.  "It's going to stay a historic asset and we'll continue to promote it."

One thing Giuliani isn't sure of is when the state plans to lock the doors. "It's unclear when the state is going to pull out," he said.

Jack Wolf, of Wolf Communications, the firm in charge of implementing Benicia's Strategic Tourism Marketing Plan, says it changes the way his firm will approach the marketing but won't stop him from implementing the plan.

"We'll work with it," he said. "We'll make sure people know about all the other great things to do in Benicia."

Giuliani was quick to point out that the Capitol isn't the only historic asset in town, nor is historic tourism the only leg of the marketing plan.

"It doesn't change the way we should market our assets," he said. "The tourism program is about history, dining, retail and the waterfront.  The Capitol isn't the lone historic asset. There is also the museum."