Cow Palace Saved!

Please do not respond to sender. Respond to kevin@savethecowpalace.com

Dear Cow Palace supporter and missive-lister,

Our combined efforts have paid off! TODAY, the California State Senate Agriculture Committee approved amendments to SB1527 that remove the Cow Palace from harms' way. All that remains of this nasty piece of legislation is the issue of selling or leasing 13 acres of the "upper" Cow Palace parking lot.

Thank you!!!! ...you wrote letters, made phone calls, tolerated continual email updates and requests for action. I know I speak for the Board of Directors of the Cow Palace, it's management and staff and MANY others when I say once again THANK YOU! (we delivered a bound booklet to each of the 5 Senators this morning with over 2,800 signatures - including all the personal notes people wrote on our petition page. This should give the Senators a warm fuzzy as they read some of them tonight with their warm milk)

So... Now what? It is completely over? No. There are a couple of things left to do:

1) Join the Friends of the Cow Palace. Ready? "Poof" You are now a friend of the Cow Palace. If you don't want to stay a member, you must opt out by saying 'no moo' in the subject line of any future email you receive from the "Friends".

It will be the mission of the Friends of the Cow Palace to foster the future success of the venue through sharing ideas, keeping in touch, and yes...buying tickets to the occasional show.

The "Friends" will have an important role to play going forward because, if the Cow Palace does not operate in the black within the next 5 years, it could still be declared surplus and sold for condos. The only good thing about this whole thing is that in a very awkward way, Senator Yee shined a light on the fact that we have all been taking the Cow Palace for granted. "It will always be there" was our attitude. Not so. We now know that unless those of us who care about it - (this big lovable concrete set of buildings and parking lots were we get to play, dance, sing, party, and just goof off) - and continue to find ways to keep it growing and healthy, we will loose it. Just say moo.

2) Our core team (you know who you are) will be going to Sacramento a couple more times to advocate for the lease of the 13 acre parking lot rather than an outright sale as the bill as currently worded. This is important because the stream of income from the lease will pay for upgrades and operations for 60 years or more while money from a sale, once spent, will be gone forever. We will let you know if we need your help on this in any way.

Once again, THANK YOU!!!! (and huzzah)

Kevin