The Verde Park recreation center faces potential closure in the city of Phoenix’s effort to balance the budget. If the new proposal is adopted, the outdoor area of the park will remain open, but the facilities and their staff will be cut.
The possible closure of the recreation center represents more than the loss of facilities. It is also the loss of a safe place for children to go to after school and of a community gathering place for the Garfield neighborhood.
“This being a small neighborhood park, it’s normally on the chopping block when there are budget concerns,” said Cindi Wilson, recreation coordinator II for Verde Park.
Wilson said even though bigger recreation centers in surrounding districts will stay open, many of the low-income families who frequent Verde Park do not have the means to travel to these centers.
Without a nearby safe place to wait for parents, community members fear that children in the area will suffer.
“I have come to know the tip of the iceberg of this community, how deep rooted it is and how they do look out for one another … they do know that this is the safe zone,” Wilson said. If this safe zone were to go away, Wilson said she does not know of an alternative place for the area’s youth to go in its stead.
Aldolfo Nunez, a student at the ASU Preparatory Academy, is one of many children who will be negatively affected if the community recreation center is shut down.
“You can meet with your friends and it’s safe because there are people to take care of you,” said Nunez, who is also a member of Teen Council, a teen enrichment program that allows its members to participate in community decision making and volunteer work. With the shutdown of the facility, Teen Council will also cease, and Nunez and its other members will be left without that extracurricular.
In addition to programs like Teen Council possibly ending, Wilson said teen and pre-teen sports leagues, and senior programs will no longer be available under the proposed cuts. Additionally, the center has been collaborating with the Nutrition Education and Training Program to start a community garden and working with a local folklorico instructor to offer classes, but both partnerships will be cut short if the center has to shut its doors.
The potential shutdown comes despite the city’s efforts to provide funding for renovations to improve the park. Since 1995, $736,375 has gone into Verde Park by the Phoenix Parks and Preserve Initiative, a fprogram directed at bettering city parks through funding collected from Phoenix sales tax.
Rick Freas, deputy director of budget and research for the city of Phoenix, said that the center still must be included in proposed cuts despite the recent spending on renovations.
“Part of the reason it is on there is the same as why senior centers, graffiti and booking are,” Freas said.
The city has a $37.7 million deficit, of which $8.4 million can be resolved without cutting services, Freas said. In order to tackle the remaining $29.3 million deficit, cuts to services, or an increase in taxes and fees, become necessary.
“Basically, to get to that large of a number, we have to propose these kinds of reductions,” added Freas.
However, Freas emphasized that this is a first draft trial budget and a closure of the Verde Park recreation center is just part of a proposal. The city has been holding community budget hearings to gain feedback on their proposals and will take voiced concerns into account when finalizing the budget. According to Freas, the final budget plan will most likely be released on May 20.
Verde Park visitors have been asked to attend these budget hearings by Wilson in order to bring attention to their center, but many of the park visitors are not willing to do so. Julio Galindo, a Verde Park recreation coordinator, said many of the families that frequent the park are made up of Spanish-speaking parents with children who can speak English, and the parents are uncomfortable speaking at budget hearings.
But the community surrounding Verde Park is not complacent about its prospective closure.
“The families really do take ownership of this. I mean, Verde Park is theirs. From all the parks that I have been to over the last 20 years that I have been with the city, this is the most heavily used park I have been to,” said Wilson.
Contact the reporter at kristy.westgard@asu.edu
