Since Gov. Jerry Brown’s revised 2011-2012 state budget was released, calling for the sale of the “Ramirez Canyon property,” many have spoken out in response. The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, which has its headquarters on the 22-acre site, reportedly opposes the sale, while Ramirez Canyon residents are for it.
The conservancy argues that it is a valuable resource for park-goers that it has worked on for decades. According to Gov. Brown’s budget, the property should be sold because it “serve[s] no state programmatic need.”
Some canyon homeowners hail the governor’s recommendation. “The residents of Malibu Road support Gov. Brown’s budget proposal to sell the Ramirez Canyon Property in Malibu,” Bill Rhodes, president of the Malibu Road Association, wrote in an open letter to the governor, Sen. Fran Pavley and Assemblywoman Julia Brownley. “The Ramirez property is inaccessible to the general public…in a very high risk fire zone and generally not suited as an active recreation facility.”
Amid the responses to the planned sale, Barbra Streisand, who donated the property in 1993, has released a statement as well.
“While I had hoped that the Ramirez Canyon property I donated to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy would have been used for a state-of-the-art Environmental Conference and Study Center as was originally intended, I understand Governor Brown’s tough decision given the severe budget shortfalls that California is facing,? Streisand?s statement reads. “I only hope that there is little disruption to the residents of Ramirez Canyon through this potential transition and that whatever entity does purchase the land and the homes on it will preserve its special habitat.”