Community leaders in City Heights spoke out Tuesday against proposed cuts to San Diego’s libraries and recreation centers.
“We cannot afford to lose funding in spaces where hope and opportunity still exist for families who cannot afford private camps or after school programs for their children,” said Jimmy Figueroa, the Chicano Federation’s director of advocacy and community organizing.
Mayor Todd Gloria’s initial budget proposal would reduce rec center hours from 60 to 40 hours per week and close all libraries on Sundays and Mondays.
City Heights resident Ana Gonzalez said families like hers would have less access to things like the teen center, dance classes and homework help.
“They're not going to have any other options,” she said. “They're not going to have the opportunity to go to another place.”
While the proposed cuts are the same across the city’s libraries and rec centers, they’re not equitable, said San Diego City Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera, whose district includes City Heights.
“What we are fighting back against is the idea that all communities are starting from the same place and in the same position to absorb the cuts that are being proposed,” he said.
The city’s Independent Budget Analyst shared their analysis of the proposed budget at a City Council meeting last week. Analyst Baku Patel said the Library Department considered other ways to reduce expenses, but they were harder to implement or saved less money.
“However, as we note in our report, different library users value and use their libraries for different reasons, which creates inequities when implementing uniform reductions,” he said. “Specifically, users in the southeast and southern parts of the city, which typically use their libraries primarily for the physical spaces they provide are more likely to feel a greater impact from this reduction.”
The Library Department could present the City Council with alternatives, such as having staff split their time between multiple locations in order to keep three or four critical library branches open, Patel said. A similar staffing plan could help restore operating hours at some rec centers, he said.
Councilmember Raul Campillo, whose district includes Allied Gardens and Serra Mesa, said he wants to find a way to fund operating hours across the library system. He said it could be difficult to measure, which library branches need additional hours the most.
“There are poor children living in every single neighborhood in every single part of this city,” he said.
Gloria is expected to release his revised budget Wednesday. Elo-Rivera said he hopes it proposes more targeted cuts.
“If that is not done, then it'll be incumbent upon the council, my colleagues and I, to make amendments to the revised budget that address the concerns of the community,” he said.
The City Council can make adjustments to Gloria’s revised budget before adopting a final version in June.
