California lawmakers are bulldozing ahead with a costly plan to demolish the East Annex, block public access to the West Steps, and destroy Capitol Park.
Now is not the time to burden taxpayers with a $1.4 billion debt for the next 30 years. It’s time to increase public safety and rehabilitate the historic East Annex, not demolish and replace it.
“Save Our Capitol! is pleased that the court reaffirmed its earlier decision requiring DGS and JRC to do what they should have done from the start of the Project: fully evaluate environmental impacts."
The Capitol Annex Project as currently proposed would destroy the historic integrity of our State Capitol and would be hugely expensive.
In 2005, the Department of General Services (DGS) prepared a plan to upgrade and modernize the building, but the Legislature decided not to move forward with it. Now, lawmakers say it’s too damaged to rehabilitate. That’s simply not true.
Save Our Capitol! is working to preserve the historic Capitol and its surrounding Park, including hundreds of irreplaceable trees. Alternatives exist to make the Annex safe without spending $1.4 billion to excavate the West Steps, build a new parking garage, and demolish-and-rebuild the Annex, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.