KEEP GIBSON RANCH OPEN
Please make sure when you buy a Regional Park Pass that you state that it is for Gibson Ranch Account.
IS GIBSON RANCH OPEN or CLOSED?
Tue, 10/20/2009 - 13:06 — Unregistered
The answer is BOTH! The ranch is open Thursday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday... but closed Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday.
How can that be? Severe Budget cuts to Sacramento County's General Fund have required that Sacramento County Regional Parks (who manage Gibson Ranch) make dire and distasteful cuts to their staff requiring curtailment to the community's access of many parts of the Regional Parks system (Sacramento County's... or... our Communitys') assets.
The short version results currently are... that Gibson Ranch is now closed to the public Mondays, Tuesdays & Wednesdays... AND OPEN Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays from 7:00am to 7:00pm
This may seem like a viable solution to a budget challenge... but... for L&M Concessions, the 17 year private concession at Gibson Ranch who boards horses, provides trail rides and other services to ranch visitors, this is fast becoming an ever unfolding nightmare.
Imagine that you are a major retail store at a shopping mall in Sacramento and were suddenly faced with a simliar situation. That is... each Monday through Wednesday, the only way that you could have access to your customers was to meet them on the street outside the mall's parking lot (which would now be closed three days a week), unlock the gate for them, bring them into the parking lot, then relock the gate behind you & them, then accompany them to your business location several hundred yards inside the mall's boundaries... and then do business. The process is, of course, reversed as you return each customer to the street after doing business.
This is the current procedure for L&M Concessions (Lois Meidinger & Dawn Lucas) whenever they have a customer. Their Horse Boarder customer procedures are almost as difficult.
As you may see, this is an impossible situation that is causing a major and negative financial impact to a once viable business plan.
How long do you think this can continue before a complete financial collapse... the answer, of course, is not very long. AND... losing the current private vendor in the middle of this challenge is unthinkable. They literally have been the core... and the beating heart of Gibson Ranch for almost two decades... and if that heart stops beating, one can only imagine the dire consequences our beautiful and irreplaceable gem.
So what do we do now? The immediate solution being encouraged by the Sacramento County Supervisors and Regional Parks is a possible transfer of responsibility (either temporarily or permanent) to the Rio Linda/Elverta Parks District.
This exact subject will be presented at the Rio Linda/Elverta Parks District Board meeting on Wednesday October 21st. It is VITALLY IMPORTANT that members of the community voice support for this plan.
CALL AND EMAIL THESE
SUPERVISORS-KEEP GIBSON RANCH OPEN
Roger Dickinson 916 874-5485 dickinsonr@saccounty.net
Jimmy Yee 916 874-5481 jyee@saccounty.net
Susan Peters 916 874-5471 susanpeters@saccounty.net
Roberta MacGlashan 916 874-5491 macglashanr@saccounty.net
Don Nottoli 916 874-5465 nottolid@saccounty.net
Gibson Ranch Movie Nights, 2010
Free Movies ~ Beginning at 5:30 p.m, 2010
June 11 TBA
June 25 TBA This Kids Movie Night is being Sponsored by
Terrie Hunt www.TerrieHuntsForHomes.com
July 9 TBA
July 23 TBA
August 6 TBA
Park entry fee is only $6 per car
Movies, Bounce Houses, Karaoke, Booths*
Food at Family Friendly Prices!
Hot Dogs ~ Cotton Candy ~ Snow Cones ~ Pop Corn
Presented by
Friends of Gibson Ranch
Gibson Ranch Equestrian Services
Sacramento County Parks
Antelope - Highlands Chamber
Rio Linda Elverta Chamber
For more information: call 875-6336
or visit
www.msa2.saccounty.net/parks/Pages/ParkDetails.aspx?pn=Regional Parks&pnd=Gibson Ranch
*we are looking for sponsors, service group booths, etc.
email HalMorris@comcast.net if you have questions or would like to participate
VOLUNTEER UPDATES
Good Day to all of my fellow Gibson Ranch supporters.
This is an update on Gibson Ranch from the Friends of Gibson Ranch.
First of all we would like to thank County Parks Superintendent, Janet Baker and her staff for this update; Gibson Ranch will not be closed at anytime in the near future. The governmental Core Grants, used at Gibson Ranch, come with a 25 year promise to keep the facility open. The County Parks has also approved the use of volunteers for certain projects at Gibson Ranch.
With this exciting news, the Friends of Gibson Ranch, through previous fund raiser donations, has had volunteer projects approved. We are looking for the following:
>April 18, volunteers to install new siding, Z-Bar and trim on the Ranch House and Bunk House, experience not necessary. This event will take place at 10:30 am, at the Ranch House. Please bring work gloves if you have them.
>April 25, volunteers to paint the trim on the Ranch House, Bunk House and do clean up, experience not necessary. This event will take place at 9 am, at the Ranch House. Please bring work gloves if you have them.
>April 25, volunteer BBQ, 1 pm, on the Ranch House Patio.
The Friends of Gibson Ranch fund will be used to pay for the building materials, with a discount from Frank Shaw Lumber, that will be installed on the 18th. Professional Painting Contractor Gene Perry, of Ace Painting, will supply the paint crew. They will be painting the main body of the Ranch House and sections of the Bunk Houses. County Parks has a Contractor that will be installing the new HVAC System in the Ranch House. Lois Meidinger and her crew out at the Ranch will be putting the finishing touches on the kitchen.
We have hopes that the Ranch house should open soon after all of the work has been done. The Ranch House has been closed for seven years. To open the Bunk Houses will take a little more time as we are looking to have the mattresses reconditioned. The Bunk House has been closed for ten years.
Future volunteer projects include; Landscaping, Pony Ride area, new or refurbished Mattress for Bunk Houses, BBQ's, Picnic Tables, repair Bird Barn and a Tree Planting day.
To Volunteer for a project, please contact
Hal Morris, halmorrisjr@sbcglobal.net 225-2845
Shannon Brown, brownsh@saccounty.net 8751255
To Volunteer for other Ranch projects, please contact
Lois Meidinger, lois@gibson-ranch.com 991-7592
Dawn Lucas, dawn@gibson-ranch.com 991-7592
To Donate to the Friends of Gibson Ranch, please contact
Keith Weber, keith@usaprintshops.com 991-5953
Jim Simpson, jimsimpson29@yahoo.com 332-9299
We are also looking for contributions/donations of items for the volunteer BBQ. Drinks, hot dogs, hamburgers, buns, condiments, etc. Please contact any of the above people.
Find out about the many exciting events at www.Gibson-Ranch.com
Thank you for all of your support, sincerely,
The Friends of Gibson Ranch!