Salvaging recs

Two months ago, the city’s recreation centers were bearing the burden of the city’s budget crisis.

Nearly 50 rec centers and pools — including at least five in South Philly — were faced with closure. Concerned residents held rallies to save their facilities, fearing youths would be left with fewer outlets just as the summer began.

But that was yesterday’s budget news. Now fire companies are feeling the heat of the city’s fiscal shortage, and rec centers are largely being spared. A half-dozen local pools even opened for the season yesterday.

The new budget that City Council passed June 21 restores $3 million of the $4 million originally slashed from the recreation facilities.

While Council members were willing to close some centers, "the Council furiously disagrees with the number of properties," said Bob Previdi, spokesperson for Council President Anna Verna. "The Council put together a counterproposal that basically put back about three-quarters of those."

Mayor John Street is still debating whether to sign off on the budget. If he does not do so by today’s deadline, the city will not have the funds to pay for employees and services.

"Most of the rec centers could remain open, in theory," Previdi said of the new budget provisions, "but only if no one changes their vote come July 1."

Council currently has a 12-5 margin in favor of the budget. If that ratio remains, the body could override a mayoral veto.

Some city officials have contended the mayor was trying to use the recreation centers as a strategy in budget negotiations to prevent Council members from voting for a tax-reform package.

"You’re going to see changes," said one source working in the city, "but it probably won’t be with the status of the rec centers. That was really a scare tactic being used by the mayor to keep the Council from voting for the tax cuts."

A number of the rec centers originally marked for closure by the Street administration were in South Philadelphia. They included Rizzo Rink, Front Street and Washington Avenue; as well as playgrounds at Chew, 18th and Washington; Donald Finnegan, 1232 S. 30th St.; Fante-Leone, 837-9 Montrose St.; and Sacks, Fourth and Washington.

No updated list has been released since Council restored 75 percent of the funding that has been cut.

The controversy over the cuts coincided with the release of a dismal Recreation Center report card from the City Controller’s Office.

Marian Anderson, 17th and Fitzwater, could have had an additional 100 visitors a day if neighboring rec centers closed. But the center would hardly have been prepared: The controller’s office reported that Anderson had low water pressure, which prevented the toilets from being flushed.

The original proposal outlined a variety of playgrounds and recreation facilities, including pools and hockey rinks, that were recommended for closure, sale, lease, transfer or conversion into other uses, such as basketball and tennis courts and ball fields.

Opponents of rec center cuts argued from the start that the reductions would not be worth the $4 million saved against a $227-million deficit. The controller’s office chimed in, contending the mayor supports other programs at far greater expense.

"Mayor Street’s pet projects, like the Safe Streets Initiative, have caused the city to spend its way into a budget crisis," said Deputy City Controller Anthony Radwanski.

The controller’s study resulted in a series of recommendations designed to avoid the need for cuts by allowing the Recreation Department to run more efficiently.

Most of the report details methods for the department to keep better track of expenditures while unloading unreasonable duties.

For instance, when the city buys properties such as breezeways and abandoned lots, they are automatically assigned to the Recreation Department for maintenance. The controller’s office recommended a halt to the policy, as the department cannot keep up with the properties it is now charged with maintaining.

The report also brought up the cautionary tale of Simons Recreation Center in Northwest Philadelphia. Simons was renovated and enlarged over a 29-month period starting in April of 1998. Auditors from the controller’s office noted numerous defects in the $3.3-million project that included significant bubbling in the gym floor, and cracking and peeling paint throughout the facility.

The city failed to take action against the contractor, spent an additional $20,000 to correct one of the defects and awarded that same contractor millions in new business, according to the controller’s report.

In a letter responding to the study, Recreation Commissioner Victor Richard 3d disputed that his department continued to use the contractor, but did agree with many of the controller’s recommendations.

Some of the key suggestions included working more closely with the Fairmount Park Commission, adopting National Playground Safety Inspection Standards and developing a more standardized method of tracking the cost of work performed.