Posted by
Katy Grimes on Wednesday, May 13, 2009 7:03:44 PM
Let me get this off my chest - The City runs a travel agency! And teen health centers... And senior enrichment classes... the waste is staggering. And there is an Executive Director being paid for every program. The Director of Parks & Recreation Department is paid $113,460.00 - $170,196.00 annually.
HERE
During a budget crisis such as the one we are currently in the middle of, a typical tactic of government officials is to instill fear in order to manipulate the voters into agreeing to higher taxes... instead of making reasonable cuts to save money. Reasonable cuts? Perhaps looking into the bloated Parks and Rec budget might illuminate the issue... The City of Sacramento Parks and Recreation Department is doing this in a big way.
I am on the parks committee of the Land Park Community Association. We are actively working to prevent the demise of our parks. A friend who heads up the Parks Committee for the LPCA, submiteed this to our membership: Last week, the City Manager released a proposed budget which calls for the firing of 50% of all park maintenance workers, as well as dozens of seasonal and part-time workers. If the City Council approves these cuts, William Land Park this summer will start to look more like the front yard of a foreclosed home in Del Paso Heights than the crown jewel of city parks and the treasured centerpiece of our neighborhood. Here are the facts:
As reported in the Bee, the layoffs in park workers will, according to City staff, have the following immediate effects on Land Park and other city parks:
- Grass mowing will be reduced from the current weekly mowing to just once every 2 to 3 weeks;
- Park trash cans, which are now emptied daily, will be emptied only once or twice a week; and
- All park restrooms will be closed, except for during special events.
Park garbage cans will be overflowing much of the time with garbage strewn throughout the park. Mowing park grass every 2 to 3 weeks will make it unsanitary and unsafe for families to picnic or children to play baseball or soccer. Closing all park restrooms will be an unmitigated disaster, as park goers will be relieving themselves in park bushes and in the yards of nearby homes. Taken together, the proposed cuts will make the park virtually unusable.
Without making any cuts in personnel, the park I live near is already starting to look seedy. They haven't mowed the grass since... the day before nancy Pelosi's visit to the Angelides house, along Land Park street. Hmmm.
Letting a park turn into a wasteland is a really stupid idea, but typical of the non-creative government thinking. More than ever, people are turning to parks for weekend outings, entertainment and picnics. Most City parks charge a permit fee for use however, if the parks look like a ghetto, who will use them? Who will visit a park with no bathrooms, hip-high brown grass and putrid ponds?
The City is attempting to force Sacramento residents agreeing to increased fees and taxes in order to justify not letting parks decay. But we're not buying it. Most of us work in private businesses and know that they only way to survive during a ecession is to make job cuts, reduce salaries and benefits. No one at the City is proposing cutting the fat middle layer of expensive but worthless management positions.
The 4th R Child Care
Leisure Enrichment Classes
Camp Sacramento
Aquatics/Pools
Community Centers
youth and Teen programs
Sports
Older Adults
Safari Tours (a Travel Agency)
Access Leisure
Neighborhood Block Parties
The City of Sacramento is in the child care business, runs a travel agency, and under the heading of Leisure Enrichment Classes is
Aquatics and swim lessons, seasonal programs at the
Children's Services (see below for additional publications),
Teen Services,
Services for Older Adults,
City Safari Tours,
Access Leisure,
Adult Sports Leagues including softball and
Special Events.
Aquatics and swim lessons, seasonal programs at the
Children's Services (see below for additional publications),
Teen Services,
Services for Older Adults,
City Safari Tours,
Access Leisure,
Adult Sports Leagues including softball and
Special Events including running a skate park.
Cover the Kids states this as their mission:
Cover the Kids (CTK), Sacramento Children's Health Initiative believe that ALL children deserve access to affordable comprehensive health coverage. What do they do? They are a service that puts parents in touch with government healthcare... Wait! Don't the government healthcare programs already have outreach services!? What a waste.
Am I reading this correctly? $45 million last year, and $38 proposed for 2009/2010? Of that, $Park Maintenance is $9.7 million, down from $11 million, and Park Planning is $767,000 down from $1.3 million. But the whopper is "Children and Community Recreation" is budgeted at $17 million down from $19.8 million.
You tell me where we can easily cut the ridiculous recreation department budget instead of picking on Park Maintenance. The City Manager needs to get his head out of his arse and start making some real budget cuts. The threats will only backfire.