Consult the Public on Bellosguardo

This week’s peek by The Independent into the Huguette Clark East Beach estate now begs for considered comments by the rest of us in the Santa Barbara public, who would ardently appreciate the opportunity to see first-hand what has now been well-described (albeit quite briefly by necessity) by Charles Donelan, Barney Brantingham, and photographer Paul Wellman! The Bellosguardo Foundation’s board should deliberately throw open the doors of this magnificent estate to grant deliberate exposure to interested residents of Santa Barbara and its environs via a time-limited series of afternoon open houses on-site, and thereby “crowd source” our own devoted public for a much wider range of suggestions and ideas. Ms. Clark, with the subsequent help of the New York Attorney General’s Office and now of Mayor Schneider, has assigned this magnificent property to function as a public trust, and it is most appropriate that interested members of the public next be exposed to the estate in-person and consulted intensively before further strategies and decisions on the uses of this invaluable public resource are developed and eventually undertaken.