EDITORIAL: Projects need champion

The silencing of the sounds of construction at Crystal Cove State Park doesn’t bode well for the future of the local economy.

The new campground and RV park in this spectacular setting promised to be a big boost to local tourism. In conjunction with the state park project, the Historic District was about to commence its next phase: educational facilities to draw families to the charming beach village that has been under restoration for several years.

One of the projects that is now on hold is a restoration of the famed “Beaches” cottage, used in the popular Bette Midler movie of the same name, which sits below a bluff in a beautiful location. The “Beaches” cottage is slated to be the district’s museum, and represents the heart of this long-planned coastal attraction.

When the state announced last month that projects relying on bond funding would have their money spigot turned off, because the state’s fiscal situation is dire, all that work stopped.

The RV park and campground is a $10.5-million public attraction; the Historic District operated by the Crystal Cove Alliance is a $6.5-million project. Aside from the jobs generated by the work itself, an influx of visitors would have helped the local area weather the national and global economic downturn.

The Crystal Cove project may be the last coastal beach park ever built in the state, which is running out of land for such public facilities. It is certainly destined to be the last large beach-adjacent park in Southern California.

State Park Orange Coast District Supt. Ken Kramer is trying to be optimistic when he says the work stoppage is “temporary.” But with the legislature and governor unable to come to terms on a budget that will turn the fiscal taps back on, the rust keeps growing on these vital projects.

The worst of it is that the work stoppage itself will add hundreds of thousands of dollars to the cost of these projects. Taking a project down and putting it back up again has its own cost, which will be added to the bill.

As the state eyes the federal “stimulus” money being offered by the new administration, it seems clear that these two park projects should qualify as “shovel-ready” construction projects that will, when completed, actually help stimulate the local economy in the long run.

Let’s hope someone on the state or federal level can see that and champion these very important projects so they don’t die on the vine.