I’ve also tried to explain the unique situation of the SBTHP drawing from both public and private sources. Through an operating agreement with the California State Parks Department, for instance, SBTHP was allowed to keep rental income from El Presidio de Santa Bárbara State Historic Park to operate and develop the park.
This public-private partnership also enabled SBTHP to receive funds from a special joint powers agreement with the City of Santa Barbara and Santa Barbara County set up by civic leader and conservation and preservation pioneer Pearl Chase. Although the county dropped out after the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978, the city continued to earmark money for the presidio in its annual budget, not to mention grants that were to come from the city’s since disbanded Redevelopment Agency.