President's Message
Budget Grinch Steals the Holiday Spirit
By PFP President Jack Foley
I love the holiday season when it’s filled with good cheer and hope for the future. This year, though, a Budget Grinch is casting a long shadow. For those of us who love parks, 2009 is shaping up as a year of unprecedented challenges. Los Angeles and the nation are in an economic free fall, and public recreation is facing drastic cuts – just when the public needs it the most!
The City Recreation and Parks Dept. is preparing to cut nearly $5 million from the current budget. That follows a “correction” last fall that did away with many part-time staff, including community people who had helped to stabilize neighborhood parks. And brace yourselves for next fiscal year, when the city is projected to face a $400-million shortfall.
Meanwhile, the County Parks and Recreation Dept. took a $3 million mid-year hit last January, and is expecting twice as large a cut in early 2009. As with the City, part-timers are expected to bear the brunt of layoffs. And because property tax revenues are a year behind, the pain will intensify in 2010 and 2011.
Public parks, libraries and cultural events provide economic benefits and help anchor neighborhoods. Working families need them more than ever during hard times. Both agencies will need to adapt to continue providing services during this crisis. They will need to form partnerships with public-interest advocates, non-profit foundations and community groups. Neighborhood initiatives and contractors are likely to fill the void left by staff cuts.
Last month, I defined socially responsive programs as “Smart Recreation.” Our Community-School Parks (CSP), which involves schools, neighbors and agencies, is exactly the model needed to deliver community services in a leaner Los Angeles. CSPs and our South L.A. Initiative are designed with little overhead, volunteer labor and private donations.
People for Parks has played a modest role in the future of Los Angeles. PFP can provide City and County parks agencies invaluable help in developing a new business plan to save public recreation. We have proposed, for example, a South L.A. Park Cluster for joint planning and programs at three South L.A. housing projects, Nickerson Gardens, Jordan Downs and Imperial Courts.
During good or bad times, the holidays are the season for giving. The deadline for 2008 tax deductions is Dec. 31, and there has never been a more important moment to help finance a PFP program. We need your help to keep CSPs open after school, on weekends and during summers, or to expand our community garden program so more families in South L.A. can grow their own organic fruits and vegetables. Thank you for giving until it helps – and best wishes to you and your loved ones!
I look forward to your feedback. Please send your comments to me directly at jack.foley1@verizon.net |
