Mobile recreation plans held up

Alicia Robinson

Some residents think Costa Mesa needs all the recreation and

family-oriented activities it can get.

Others, including Councilman Gary Monahan, believe the city should

nix two mobile recreation programs that might be duplicating already

existing services.

The council tonight will consider whether to cut the city’s mobile

recreation and mobile skate park programs. The two programs already

have had their budgets chopped by about $40,000 this year, and

reduced budgets are proposed for the next fiscal year as well.

The mobile recreation program, started in 1999, offers children

games, sports, crafts and homework help several days a week at four

sites. The mobile skate park was set up in 2001 and brings rails,

ramps and other equipment to skateboarders and in-line skaters so

they can practice in a safe and legal spot.

With the city’s new, permanent skate park expected to open in

June, Monahan said he considers the mobile skate park program

“overkill.”

And the mobile recreation program doesn’t get used enough to

justify its costs, he said.

“I’m a big fan of the [recreation] department. I’ve got six kids,”

Monahan said. “I just think we’re duplicating programs at this

point.”

Between July 2004 and March 2005, the city reports, 5,980 children

visited the mobile recreation program, and 621 children used the

mobile skate park. The number of children who can use the mobile

skate park at one time is limited by the amount of equipment the

program has.

“Typically they’re in neighborhoods where there’s not immediate

access to, say, a school ground or a park program or even a park,”

city Administrative Services Director Steve Mandoki said. “They pick

neighborhoods where the kids wouldn’t really have the ability to

travel to another program.”

That lack of access to other programs is a concern to members of

the city’s child care and youth services committee, which wrote a

letter to the council in April asking that the mobile recreation

programs be kept alive.

Councilwoman Katrina Foley, who promised while campaigning to

support recreation opportunities, said she doesn’t want to see the

mobile recreation programs cut either. City residents consistently

list parks and recreation among the city’s biggest needs, she said.

“I’m certainly willing to consider alternate funding sources if

the issue is simply funding,” Foley said. “If anything, we need to

increase our after-school and recreation programming, not decrease

it.”

But Monahan said it’s not just about the money -- in fact, he said

he’ll suggest the city consider a second permanent skate park in the

future. The park that’s now under construction is expected to cost

the city $1 million.

“This isn’t necessarily driven by the budget,” Monahan said. “It’s

just what I would call good business. I mean, you’re always looking

to watch the bottom line.”

The council in March cut $100,000 from the parks and recreation

department budget, including the cuts to the mobile recreation

programs. In April, council members voted to contribute $1 million --

possibly over several years -- to a community effort to build a

swimming pool and athletic stadium to serve the city’s two high

schools.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers government and politics. She may be

reached at (714) 966-4626 or by e-mail at alicia.robinson

@latimes.com.