Ambitious Plan to Rebuild Recreation Facilities in Trouble

By Carol Dimmick

In 1999 the SF Recreation and Park Department parlayed an assessment of the city's ailing 227 facilities into an ambitious $400 million, 10-year capital improvement plan.

Two-and-one-half years later, a softening in revenue projections, combined with a $6 million budget cut, political pressure from the mayor to roll out construction projects, an inadequate assessment and delays in hiring staff, are raising doubts about the department's ability to deliver on its promise to revitalize the city's ailing parks and acquire open spaces.

The ambitious plan, which includes at least 440 projects, was hatched in heady economic times when voters passed a $110 million general obligation bond and extended a hefty property tax assessment in March 2000 to help finance the project.

But the recent economic downturn is raising questions about the department's ability to meet its funding targets for the $400 million project.

Elizabeth Goldstein, general manager of the Recreation and Park Department, is confident that she can raise the $140 million in revenue from grants and philanthropic gifts budgeted for the project, but she admits that finding money to pay for maintenance and administration is going to be difficult.

"We will have to go the Board of Supervisors for this and make our case each year that we need a budget to support this," she acknowledged.

According to estimates provided in the 1999 Assessment Project Final Report, budget increases to pay for maintenance and staffing for the $400 million plan range from $5 million to $25 million a year as projects are completed. According to the financial model adopted by the department, a four percent increase yearly over a 10 year span was budgeted to pay for the increased costs.

At a time when substantial budget increases are necessary, Mayor Willie Brown is asking Goldstein to slash the department's budget by $6 million in fiscal year 2002-2003.

And Brown is also putting pressure on Goldstein to roll out projects faster than may be prudent in order to jump start the city's ailing economy.

"The mayor has asked me to do this and I always try to do what the mayor asks," Goldstein confirmed. When asked for specifics about how the mayor's request will impact the plan, Goldstein said the matter was still under consideration.

$400 Million Capital Plan Based On Inadequate Assessment

The department undertook an assessment of the city's recreational facilities in 1999 which became the basis for the ambitious plan to upgrade the city's parks and open spaces.

Department officials acknowledge the assessment was really more of a community outreach effort and that they spent only a fraction of their budget allotment on the actual assessment.

According to Becky Ballinger, public relations director for the Recreation and Park Department, $350,000 of the $500,000 budget was spent on community outreach.

"The upside was that we did a lot of community outreach. The downside was there wasn't much left for the assessment," Ballinger said.

Gary Hoy, the capital program manager for the Recreation and Park Department concurred with Ballinger.

"The assessment was really based on about one hour's worth of one person's time at each facility," he said.

Hoy explained that every project will go through a reassessment as part of the planning process. But critics point out that with funding sources drying up, many projects may be downsized during the planning stage.

Projects in Limbo Because of Staffing Delays

Goldstein has already come under fire from Ocean View residents who campaigned for the bond measure after they were promised a new recreation center by Goldstein in 1999 and now want the department to deliver on its promises.

The new recreation center was supposed to break ground this spring, but a shortage of planners forced the project to remain in limbo last year. Funding for the project was also cut from an original estimate of $12 million to $8 million.

Dan Weaver, who drummed up support for the plan after attending community outreach meetings in 1999, now hopes he has done the right thing by supporting the bond measure.

Weaver said the community has yet to be shown architectural renderings for the new building, although the project is listed as a top priority in the capital plan.

According to Weaver, an architect assigned to the project by the department designed a building based on a wish list drawn up by the community. Although this design conformed to the $12 million allotted in the original assessment budget, department officials say the project is too expensive. They are now saying that the new recreation center will be built for $8 million.

"If we could build the Richmond Recreation Center for $6 million, we can build the Ocean View recreation center for $8 million," Hoy said.

Because the project was without a planner until November, department officials have refused to show plans to the community. Weaver said the department's attitude, as well as the delays, really upset him.

"They canceled meeting after meeting or just didn't show up. They didn't even return our phone calls," he said.

While Goldstein admits that community members involved in the planning for the project may have been treated poorly, she said that plans are now ready for the new recreation center and will be shown to the community in mid-February.

"I'm not a betting person, but I'm willing to bet ... they will be happy with their new recreation center," Goldstein said.

Goldstein blames the Board of Supervisors for delays in projects like the Ocean View Recreation Center. She says the delays were caused when the department's budget was stalled in the Finance Committee for 10 months while she was forced to defend her request for 26 new staff positions.

"We needed to build a design team dedicated to these projects. We needed architects that could design parks, not tunnels," Goldstein said.

Supervisor Leland Yee, who was chairman of the Finance Committee at the time Goldstein's budget requests came under scrutiny, said Goldstein's requests for staff were excessive and ultimately reduced to 19.

"When you use the money for unnecessary staff positions it takes money away from fixing up the parks. This is the same problem we had with the school district where the bond money was exhausted," Yee said.

Watchdog Committee Raises Questions About Accounting System

For months Isabel Wade, chairperson of Parks, Recreation and Open Space Advisory Committee (PROSAC), a citizens watchdog group established to make sure all funds are spent efficiently and appropriately, contends the department has failed to answer basic questions about how it is spending bond and Open Space Fund money.

"Why did the department choose to ask for bond funding if neither staff was available to carry out projects nor, most importantly, a system of accounting was in place for expenditures?" Wade asked.

According to Wade, the department cannot even tell her the amount of Open Space funds carried over from last year. Wade has raised other troubling questions, including the transfer of $1 million into an account established for the purchase of open space that is earmarked for the purchase of Esprit Park.

Last year the Mayor's Office and the Redevelopment Agency completed a deal with the developer to transfer Esprit Park to the Recreation and Park Department in a straight exchange for waiving development fees at the Mission Bay Project.

Goldstein recently explained that funds were originally transferred into the account to purchase the land and after it was given to the department the funds were left in the account to pay for expenses involved in completing the transaction.

But Goldstein's explanation did not satisfy Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who followed the acquisition closely.

"I am not satisfied with her explanation. If that was the reason why $1 million was transferred into the account, why is it still there now?" Peskin asked.

Los Angeles Bungles $50 million Park Bond Project

Tales of bungled projects to improve parks hatched during economic boom times are just beginning to surface in other cities.

Five years into an ambitious project to improve its parks and open spaces, the city of Los Angeles has run into trouble. The $25-million-a-year plan was started in 1996 after voters passed Proposition K.

But according to a report in the September issue of the Daily News of Los Angeles, inadequate funds, poor planning and a lack of critical staff has resulted in projects running an average of one year behind schedule.

The L.A. Recreation and Park Department is now being forced to scramble to find additional local, state or federal funding to complete projects that sit idle or half-completed. A city task force has recently been appointed to look into the matter.