Rec. and Park Cuts Could Damage Popular Programs

By Carol Dimmick

Thirty-one employees of the SF Recreation and Park Department were handed pink slips in November, forcing deep cuts in popular programs for children and seniors in the Richmond and Sunset districts.

The layoffs are a result of Mayor Gavin Newsom's effort to trim $97 million from the city's budget over the next 18 months. Newsom is struggling with a massive budget deficit after voters rejected Propositions J and K, which would have closed the deficit by raising the sales tax and imposing a new tax on small businesses.

The impact on the city's 72 recreation centers will be sorted out over the next several weeks, but it is already clear that the layoffs will force some facilities to close their doors one day a week on a rotating basis and force the centers to drop popular programs.

The Richmond Recreation Center, a new $7 million facility on 18th Avenue, will close every Monday and lose two directors as a result of the cutbacks.

"I had six staff when the center opened four years ago, now I am down to three. There are programs that are definitely going to fall by the wayside," said Stephen Kamena, a supervisor at the Richmond Recreation Center.

Kamena said that because the City is forced to lay off its provisional employees first, he will lose two of his most valuable staff members.

David Hong was hired shortly after the new center opened its doors in 2000 because of his ability to speak fluent Cantonese. He teaches yoga classes attended by Cantonese-speaking adults and seniors and has developed a tennis program for 40 children since joining the staff. Both programs will likely be dropped when Hong leaves Jan. 15.

"They just won't exist. They don't have the staff," he said of the programs.

An important part of Hong's job is to interpret and translate flyers for the center's Cantonese-speaking patrons, who make up about 60 percent of the center's clients.

In addition to Hong, the Richmond center will lose Diane Brenner, a director who also translates for Russian-speaking clients.

"About 40 percent of our population is Russian speaking and it is going to be especially hard to get them to the recreation center if someone doesn't speak the language," Kamena explained.

The Richmond District will also lose two part-time employees who work in after-school latch-key programs at the Argonne Playground and the Fulton Recreation Center.

"It was a decision whether to keep the recreation center or the playgrounds open," Kamena said.

Residents in the Sunset District will find the Sunset Recreation Center without its popular director, Toby Wiley, after Jan. 15.

Wiley, who has been at the center for the past three years and with the department since 1989, left his job with the SF Police Department and took a pay cut of $40,000 to work with children.

"I intended to make this my career," he said.

The Sunset will also lose five employees that work in satellite programs, putting popular latch-key and Tiny Tot programs in jeopardy.

Supervisor Fiona Ma urged top officials in the department to prioritize the programs.

"They are doing all they can to protect these programs," Ma said.

But Wiley contends that a lack of staff will make it impossible to continue many popular programs that Sunset residents now enjoy, including a youth soccer program and a community garden. He also questioned whether enough staff can be found to run the center's large Tiny Tot program.

"We had four children in the Tiny Tot program when I came here, now we have 40 to 50 kids aged five to nine years old. That can't be run by one person. They will have to scale it down and raise fees to keep it going," Wiley said.

The latest round of layoffs will leave the Sunset without some of its most valuable employees, according to Wiley.

"They have made cuts in a way that was easier for them by cutting the provisional people. This way, they don't have to deal with civil service. It doesn't take into account how it will affect the programs and the people in the community," he said.

Kin Gee, the SF Recreation and Park Department's human resources director, says citywide layoff procedures were followed and that management will be meeting to reassign staff during the next several weeks. Gee also said the department will ensure that the impacts will be equally distributed throughout the City.

Yomi Agunbiade, the department's executive director, declined a request for an interview.

More layoffs could be looming if the economy fails to gather steam and the economic uncertainty has a negative impact on the department's remaining employees.

"Morale was never too good, and now it's even worse," Kamena said. "People are waiting for the next shoe to drop."