For the first time in nearly a year, the 16 recreation centers that serve thousands of Chattanooga youths expect to be open again on Saturdays within the next couple of weeks.
Parks and Recreation Department officials say they will start opening on Saturdays as soon as they hire about four part-time people to help staff the centers for the longer hours.
Hours curtailed in 2009 because of budget cuts will be restored, thanks to an additional $1.7 million allocated to the city Parks and Recreation Department in an attempt to help youths stay out of trouble.
“(City officials) felt like our recreation centers could make a huge impact in deterring the growth rate of gang violence and teen pregnancy,” said Greta Hayes, recreation centers director. The department’s annual report says recreation centers serve thousands of youths each year.
The restored budget also enables the department to hire 15 people – six full time and nine part time – in preparation for the extended center hours – which will now be 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The centers will close only on Sunday, Hayes said.
The centers had been closing at 6 p.m. In summer, the centers stay open until 9 p.m.
But there’s more to it than just longer hours, Hayes said.
“We’re not just going to open the doors and throw a ball out,” she said. “We’re going to have structured programs, and we want people’s ideas.”
DeAngelo Dews, 15, goes to the Avondale center every day after school to play basketball and looks forward to playing on Saturdays.
“It keeps you out of trouble,” he said. “It gives you something to do so you won’t be walking around all bored.”
But East Chattanooga resident Antonio Boston said he’s concerned about young people’s safety at the center at night.
“It’s dangerous for center workers and the kids,” Boston said. “The center is a target. If someone wants to do something bad, they can do it all in one shot.”
City officials cut the recreation center budget by at least 5 percent, or about $575,000, in 2009, leading to shorter hours and fewer employees, said City Councilman Russell Gilbert.
This year, the City Council resisted another proposed cut and increased the budget instead, Gilbert said.
“You have to look at the big picture,” Gilbert said. “If you incarcerate a kid, it’s going to cost $60,000 a year to keep that kid in jail. So you can spend $60,000 or $5,000 [referring to the cost of center operations] on the kid for programs.”
Youth turn to crime when they don’t have structured, positive programs, he said.
The city also is relocating about a dozen city parks and recreation employees today, not all of whom are happy to be moved.
Michelle Taylor cried when she learned that she may be reassigned after working at the Eastdale Recreation Center for 10 years.
Eastdale residents were so upset by her moving, 500 of them signed a petition asking officials to allow her to stay.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” said Isabella Lane, who stood with about 20 Eastdale residents during a neighborhood meeting this month to show support for Taylor.
Taylor started the girls softball program, assisted in bingo and helped plan activities for the elderly at the Eastdale center, Lane said.
But parks officials say the relocation is meant to shake things up and to reinvigorate both the employees and the centers.
“You have people who have worked together for 10 to 15 years at the same place, and so they become complacent,” said Hayes. “I’m not saying they’re not doing their job, but I want them to have opportunity to grow as a professional as well.”
She hopes people who are moved will develop programs at their new locations to draw more people, Hayes said.
Lane said Hayes’ comments about complacency don’t describe Taylor.
“She’s working. I mean, she’s working,” said Lane. “She wrestled with our neighborhood association a long time to get us in there. Now we’re playing bingo and planning trips. She’s not complacent at all. She needs to keep building there.”
Former Parks and Recreation employee Wayne Ammons said administrators should look at themselves and facility managers before they relocate lower level employees.
“You have directors who have been in the same position for 30 years,” he said. “Why not move them sometimes if they’re worried about complacency.”
Ammons said he also doubts if youth will go to the centers on Saturdays.
“I worked (with the parks and recreation department) for 14 years and didn’t see kids come in to the recreation centers on Saturday,” he said. “Depending on where you were, you might not see 20 kids on a Saturday.”
No center employee’s pay is being affected by the changes, and no one is losing a job, Hayes said.
Cynthia Cash, president of the North Brainerd Neighborhood Association, appealed to Gilbert and Councilwoman Carol Berz this week to stop the worker relocations.
“If they ignore the wishes of the community group, from the grumblings in the community, it could be political suicide,” Cash said. “We elect them to be our voice.”
Gilbert said he can’t second-guess the administration.
“This is an administrative move,” he said. “If it were something against a rule or a law, I could see some intervention. But the bottom line is: We have intervened. We increased hours. We increased programs.”