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November 2009

 

 

Dear City Beautiful Members:  

 

The members of the City Beautiful Board voted earlier this year to relinquish our status as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and close down.  Rather than just cease to exist, we worked diligently to find another organization to take over our non-profit designation.  During the process we found that both the Friends of Balboa Park (FOBP) and the Friends of Kate Sessions Park (FOKSP) were interested in assuming different parts of City Beautiful.

 

The Friends of Balboa Park were interested in our projects related to Balboa Park.  Specifically, they wished to assume responsibility for the annual Poinsettia Display and for the Botanical Building Museum Accreditation Project (MAP).  To that end we have signed a Memorandum of Understanding that transfers those projects to them, together with associated funding. 

 

The bank account we held for the Botanical Bldg. MAP project is being transferred to FOBP, and we have added a donation to that account from our general fund.  The Board also voted to donate the major portion of our general fund to the Rodger and May Lindsay Poinsettia Display Endowment Fund at the San Diego Foundation.  

 

The Friends of Kate Sessions Park wanted to assume our non-profit designation, which will allow them to continue their projects in Kate Sessions Park in Pacific Beach.  City Beautiful has been acting as their financial agent, maintaining a dedicated bank account for their funds.  That account will be transferred to them upon completion of the change over.  They will be using the City Beautiful name until they can submit new Articles of Incorporation for approval.

 

By the end of 2009 City Beautiful will cease to exist in its present form.  It will live on within a committee of the Friends of Balboa Park as the City Beautiful Horticulture Committee.  That committee will oversee the continuance of the annual Poinsettia Display, the MAP project, Arbor Day in the Park, and similar activities.  The Friends of Kate Sessions Park is an appropriate organization to assume our non-profit designation given that the founding of Kate Sessions Park was the project around which City Beautiful was originally established in 1954.

Over

 

Through the generosity of FOBP, you will benefit from these changes. As a current City Beautiful of San Diego, Inc. member, your membership will be converted to a Friends of Balboa Park membership through the next year, 2010. You are invited to participate actively by attending the FOBP activities and meetings and in the City Beautiful Horticulture Committee.  We hope that you will take full advantage of this membership and the activities it makes possible.

 

We are saddened by and deeply regret our closing.  Nevertheless, we leave heartened by the 54 years of dedicated service that City Beautiful has given to the beautification of San Diego. During its lifetime, City Beautiful has planted over 10,000 trees in our great city, many of them in Balboa Park.  Among our many credits and projects is our giving the Kate Sessions statue to the City for placement in Balboa Park and advocating for the establishment of Kate Sessions Park in Pacific Beach.  There are many more, too numerous to mention here, and we close knowing we have made many lasting contributions to the beauty of our City and County. 

 

We wish you a Happy Thanksgiving and hope that we will see you at the December 3 opening of the Poinsettia Display.

 

Yours truly,

Kathy Puplava, President

 

Ky/sy

 

NOTE:  Should you need to contact any of the organizations mentioned in the letter, their addresses are:

 

Friends of Balboa Park                                         Friends of Kate Session Park

2125 Park Boulevard                                               c/o Michelle Youngers

San Diego, CA 92101                                             5220 Soledad Rd.                           

Ph: 619.232.2282; Fax: 619.232.2281                  San Diego, CA 92109

Email: info@friendsofbalboapark.org                    Ph:  858.273.1518

                                                                                    email:  mayoungers@yahoo.com                                                              

The San Diego Foundation

Roger & Mary Lindsay Poinsettia Fund

2508 Historic Decator Road, Suite 200

San Diego, CA   92106

Ph:  619.235.2300; Fax:  619.239.1710

Email:  info@sdfoundation.org