The state of California is nearly bankrupt, with a $24 billion budget deficit. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has said that something has to be done to fix the problem and his strategy called for the auction of some of California’s more popular landmarks.

On the block would be San Quentin State Prison, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and the California State Fairgrounds.

The governor said that the sale of these landmarks as well as four others and eleven office buildings around the state might raise $3 billion for the state. This would help the budget after the proposed cuts in education, welfare, parks, and health care are passed through.

Unfortunately, it could take years to complete sales of these sites. That means that it would do zero for the pressing problems the budget deficit is causing. The other problem with the sale of the real estate is the downturn in the Californian real estate market.

Robert Griswold, a real estate author and one of the members of the planning committee of San Diego said, “Basically, this is the inappropriate time to do this. The economy is down and is now in the favor of people looking to purchase these properties and not in the side of the state.”

San Quentin Prison sits on 400 acres on the San Francisco Bay and was built in the 1880’s. The landmark could be sold for as much as $1 billion for the state. The idea is not to turn the prison into a museum or some other historical site for guests, most real estate buyers would tear the prison down and construct condos or some other expensive real estate on the land.

But what about California’s death row inmates, you know, the ones still housed at San Quentin? At this time it is unclear where they would go. There are at present 5,150 inmates at San Quentin and moving them could cost the state millions of dollars and would take away from any of the proceeds made from the sale of San Quentin.

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum held the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympics and can seat 100,000 people. The state wants a buyer for the Coliseum to carry on using it as such. It does not currently have a price tag, but expectations are that the sale will take up to three years.

This isn’t the first instance that the sale of landmarks have been considered by a administration. The London Bridge was sold to Lake Havasu City, Arizona after, in 1962, it was called no longer suitable for the amount of traffic going across it. It was put back together in Arizona and has been at that point ever since.

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