Programs, Staff on Rec. and Park's Chopping Block

By Carol Dimmick

Up against an $11 million budget shortfall, officials at the SF Recreation and Park Department are asking Richmond and Sunset district residents to help them make tough budget decisions that could mean closing facilities and cutting staff positions.

It was just three years ago that a $200 million budget surplus sent Mayor Willie Brown on a spending spree, handing out pay raises and hiring more city workers. Now, the mayor, faced with a $350 million budget shortfall, is asking all departments to take a hit of almost one-third of the total amount they receive from the city's General Fund.

To meet Brown's request to trim $10.9 million from the $35 million it receives from the City, the SF Recreation and Park Department will consider everything - from selling naming rights at Candlestick Park to the highest bidder to using $1 million in Open Space Funds - to help close the deficit and pay for 17 staff positions.

During the past few months, the department has been quietly working behind the scenes on the budget shortfall. It recently received approval from the SF Recreation and Park Commission to increase fees on everything from permits to parking. The commissioners also approved increasing fees the department charges for classes at the Sharon Art Studio.

The changes are estimated to bring in an additional $500,000. The department will soon bring proposals before the commission to acquire an additional $900,000 from the Downtown Park Fund for services provided for Union Square improvements and $100,000 by increasing reimbursements for outings. In addition, the department is also exploring ways to lower its expenses by proposing that employees voluntarily take unpaid leave ($200,000), cuts in recreation staff ($275,000), reducing programs and reducing staff at the Housing Authority.

To decide what and how much to cut, the department is holding a series of community meetings in early February to get feedback from residents before presenting a draft of its budget for 2003-2004 to the Recreation and Park Commission on Feb. 10.

The Park, Recreation and Open Space Advisory Committee (PROSAC), a citizen watchdog group established to make sure the department spends bond funds appropriately, hosted a meeting Jan. 27 at the Sunset Recreation Center, with the blessing of the department, to break the bad news to Richmond and Sunset residents and to get their input. The Recreation and Park Department will hold its own meeting at the recreation center Feb. 3, at 6 p.m.

Frank Mancini, a member of PROSAC, told about 40 residents who attended the meeting he was preparing them so they could give feedback to the department about the budget cuts.

"This is to give you a heads up. This is a primer for you. We decided to give you a preview of what to expect so you can absorb the information and provide feedback to the department," he said.

Attendees were asked to participate in an exercise to decide which programs and facilities they wanted the department to keep and which could be managed by other public or private agencies. Some of their priorities included neighborhood parks, pools, Conservatory of Flowers, Randall Museum and Palace of Fine Arts.

Attendees told the department to consider other options for the stadium at Candlestick Point, food services, the youth golf program, stables, photo center, Latch Key Program and about 40 other programs and facilities under the department's purview.

Most Sunset and Richmond residents who came to the meeting said they were not surprised by the gravity of the budgetary situation.

"I came here tonight expecting to hear the worst. And I heard it," said Sunset resident Cathy Russo.