Today’s blog entry will focus on one of the most important City Service Areas (CSAs): Neighborhood Services, which includes, among other things, libraries, park facilities, community centers, and aspects of the City’s Planning, Building, and Code Enforcement Department. As I have mentioned in previous posts, all CSAs and City departments are facing significant cuts, including Neighborhood Services.
Libraries
All of the branch libraries are currently open 4 ½ days a week. Under the proposed budget, the hours of operation will be reduced to 3 days a week for a total of 25 hours a week. However, neighboring branches will be paired together based on usage patterns and geographic proximity to one another, so that these paired branches will be open 6 days a week combined. The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. library downtown will not have its hours reduced, but that could change due to potential San Jose State University reductions.
Unfortunately, the proposed budget also calls for reducing or eliminating some of our library services such as children’s educational programs, literacy programs, and story time. In addition, the proposal seeks to delay the openings of the Bascom, Calabazas, Educational Park, and Seven Trees library branches until the fall of 2012.
If this aspect of the budget proposal is enacted, it will ultimately mean that over 40 employees in the Library Department will be eliminated
Parks
While there are no current plans to close parks or to reduce their hours, the proposed budget will seek to cut the number of park rangers in half (approximately), leaving a core team of about six park rangers that would be deployed throughout the regional park system based on need with Alum Rock and Kelly Parks serving as their home base. In addition, park maintenance and custodial service will be contracted out to a private company, which will result in the elimination of approximately 40 positions. This would continue a troubling trend: although there is an increasing attendance in our city’s parks, park maintenance staffing has decreased by 18% in the last eight years with park acreage increasing by 16%.
In addition to the proposed cuts, there are also revenue generating suggestions in the proposed budget, including:
• Extending the time period during which the $6 parking fee at regional parks is charged by two months (meaning that the $6 fee will be in place from April through September instead of May through August), and a new $3 fee will be instituted for the remaining months (October through March)
• Recreational swim fees will be increased by $0.50, and the cost of swim lessons at Mayfair and Camden Pools will increase by $5
• Neighborhood park picnic reservations fees of $235 per day would be implemented in one park per District
• The Children’s Carousel at the Arena Green would be eliminated
Community Centers and Other Services
I know there hasn’t been much positive news regarding the budget, so I am very happy to tell you that all ten hub community centers will remain open. However, their hours of operation will be reduced from 63 to 59 hours per week. The City will continue to assist in funding the Senior Nutrition program, but the contribution will be less, which means that many aspect of the Nutrition program will be outsourced, and some City positions associated with the Nutrition program will be eliminated.
However, community programs that receive funding from the City will be hit hard by the proposed budget. The PRNS Youth Intervention Services program will eliminate 16 positions. The STAND (Striving Toward Achievement with A New Direction) program will be completely eliminated. In addition, San Jose BEST funded community based organizations will have their budgets reduced by $600,000. The Safe School Campus Initiative (the program that assigns police officers on school grounds) will also be cut at middle schools, although their services at high schools will be retained.
Planning, Building and Code Enforcement
The PBCE Department appears in more than one CSA due to its many functions, so cuts to this department will be discussed in other blog entries. However, it should be noted that four PBCE positions that staff the Strong Neighborhoods Initiative (SNI) Driveway Team will be eliminated. Overall, six code enforcement positions will be cut, which will bring the total number of city-wide code enforcement inspectors to two. The proposed budget notes that “courtesy/warning letters will substitute for field inspections in response to ‘neighborhood quality’ complaints,” and “[p]roactive enforcement and weekend services will cease.”
