Rec. and Park takes Another Look at $400 Million Improvement Plan

By Carol Dimmick

Three years into a $400 million project to revitalize the city's aging recreational facilities, Richmond and Sunset district residents learned that the SF Recreation and Park Department is undertaking a long-range planning effort that could affect which parks and recreation facilities in their districts receive funding for improvements.

Yomi Agunbiade, the new capital program manager for the Recreation and Park Department, told 25 residents from Districts 1, 4 and 5 at a community planning session held in late September at the Golden Gate Park Senior Center that a reassessment of the department's capital plan is underway.

"We will be making a recommendation to the SF Recreation and Park Commission in a few months and that recommendation may include changes in direction," Agunbiade said.

A change in direction could mean that projects previously scheduled for renovations in future years could be eliminated, scaled back or find their start dates continued even farther into the future.

A list of projects passed out at the meeting categorized as "ongoing" in the Richmond included improvements to Argonne, Rochambeau and Rossi playgrounds.

In the Sunset, the Sava Pool, McCoppin Square, Parkside Square, Pine Lark Park and the South Sunset Playground were said to be in the planning, construction or design phase.

At the beginning of the planning session, Agunbiade told the attendees that part of the department's reassessment strategy was to gather input from the community that would be used to help guide the department.

A question and answer session that followed a Powerpoint presentation, however, revealed that residents seemed more concerned about the lack of gardeners and maintenance staff.

"What has happened to the gardener at my park?" one resident asked.

While attendees continued to talk about the lack of safety at parks and the need for more gardeners, once they broke up into smaller groups by district some suggestions were put forward. One Sunset resident suggested turning the roof of a nearby reservoir into a park for skateboarders.

Effects of Massive Budget Cuts Felt

The light turnout for the planning session stands in dramatic contrast to the standing-room-only crowd that attended community meetings last spring when budget cuts threatened to cripple the department.

At that time, Elizabeth Goldstein, the general manager of the Recreation and Park Department, asked the public to help her decide which programs and services to protect as she struggled to make almost $10 million in budget cuts mandated by Mayor Willie Brown. The blow hit the department just as it was recovering from years of low employee morale.

Department watchdogs say Abgunbiade's appointment in August to take over the top spot in the capital division could be a signal that the ambitious plan is headed for trouble.

When voters approved Propositions A and C in 2000 to partially fund the renovations, department watchdogs raised questions about the accuracy of the assessment used to come up with the $400 million price tag the department put on the entire project. In addition, questions have arisen about a possible shortfall in funds for future projects in the pipeline because of the economic downturn.

The last two years of budget cuts has left the department without the personnel it needs to adequately staff and maintain facilities once they are completed.

This summer Goldstein acknowledged that she did not have the staff for a new clubhouse completed in Visitacion Valley and a new park in the Mission District.

And Goldstein recently announced that over the next five years the Rec. and Park Department will enter into partnerships with nonprofits to run programs in as many as 25 recreation centers throughout the City.

"It's going to require a little acceptance and change. The common goal is to keep programs," said Dan McKenna, a superintendent for the Recreation and Park Department who is in charge of the partnership project.

Although McKenna said the department's goal is to replace the equivalent of one-to-two full-time staff members at recreation centers and he projected the partnerships will save $75,000 at each center, skeptics are wondering if his projection will be enough to adequately staff facilities that were suffering from years of budget neglect.