Tubac and Oracle parks escape closure _ for now

With BC-CNS-State Parks

Photos Available (thumbnails, captions below)

By STEVEN FALKENHAGEN
Cronkite News Service

PEORIA (Friday, Feb. 20) _ Tubac Presidio State Historic Park will stay open for now, but Carol Cullen, executive director of the Tubac Chamber of Commerce, knows she faces an uphill battle.

“We survived to live another day, but we’re going to face this again soon,” Cullen said after the Arizona State Parks Board decided Friday to close three other parks due to budget cuts.

“We feel like we accomplished what we hoped to accomplish today, and that was to get additional time knowing that it wasn’t going to be much time,” she said.

The board voted to close Jerome State Historic Park in Jerome, McFarland State Historic Park in Florence and Tonto Natural Bridge State Park near Payson until at least June 30.

Board members said the fate of Tubac Presidio and seven other parks recommended for closure depends in large part on legislation that would restore money cut from the Arizona State Parks budget. If the Legislature fails to approve the bill, HB 2088, more parks could close in early March, members said.

Cullen traveled to the Valley to address the board along with Susan Walsh, the Tubac chamber’s vice chair. They said their group needs more time to raise money through a public-private partnership to help keep open Arizona’s oldest state park, which preserves the first European settlement in Arizona and houses the state’s first printing press.

“Our town slogan is, ‘Where art and history meet,’ and we want it to remain that, not just, ‘The town of art,’” Cullen said after the meeting.

Alan Sokowitz, a Tucson resident who started the Web site www.seeitbeforeitcloses.com to call attention to the proposed closures, told the board it would be premature and shortsighted to close parks. Later, he said Tubac Presidio is closest to his heart because of its proximity to Tucson and its importance to Tubac.

“It would be unthinkable to go to Tubac and find that park shuttered,” he said.

Meanwhile, another southern Arizona park dodged a bullet when the board rejected including Oracle State Park with those closed Friday.

Members noted that community leaders were trying to raise money to keep the Oracle park operating.

Cindy Crupicka, the president of Friends of Oracle State Park, said the park is crucial to her community because visitors spend money in restaurants, gas stations and stores.

“The Oracle people need the park to keep their economy going,” she said.

Both Crupicka and Sorkowitz said it’s important for those who support the parks to let lawmakers know it.

“We are going to be redirecting our efforts to focusing on the Legislature, which I understand is a tough nut to crack,” Sorkowitz said. “But if you don’t go in there and swing you can’t feel as though you’ve had any part in the solution.”

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PHOTOS: Click thumbnails to see full-resolution images and download; caption information is in the file under File>File Info.

CAPTION WITH BC-CNS-STATE PARKS: Carol Cullen (right), executive director, and Susan Walsh, vice chair of the Tubac Chamber of Commerce, address the Arizona State Parks Board about Tubac Presidio State Historic Park on Friday, Feb. 20, 2009. (Cronkite News Service Photo/Michelle Price)

CAPTION WITH BC-CNS-STATE PARKS: Alan Sorkowitz, a Tucson resident who set up the Web site www.seeitbeforeitcloses.com to rally support for state parks threatened with closure, speaks Friday, Feb. 20, 2009, before the Arizona State Parks Board. Sorkowitz said he was most concerned about  (Cronkite News Service Photo/Daniel Newhauser)