Draining Parks Budget : District May Lose $2.5 Million From $6.8-Million Budget; Rally Planned Tonight

Rancho Simi Recreation and Parks District officials said they do not want to let public park lawns die, cut back swimming hours or switch off the tennis court lights at Rancho Simi Community Park.

But the parks stand to lose up to $2.5 million of their $6.8-million budget under Wilson’s plan to shift local property taxes to education, and would not be able to continue operating at full strength, said Jerry Gladden, its general manager.

The district plans to hold a “Save Our Parks” rally and information meeting at 5:30 tonight at the Rancho Simi Community Park Amphitheater to break the bad news to park users.

“The biggest, most visible impact will be the general appearance of the parks because we won’t have the bodies we need to do what we do,” Gladden said. “The parks won’t be very green. They may not be green at all. A lot of people will be impacted, unfortunately.”

Gladden said the district’s budget-paring plans in order of priority are:

* Leaving the small swimming and wading pools at Sycamore Drive Community Center closed and shifting their summer programs to pools at Sequoia Neighborhood Park Pool and Rancho Simi Community Park Pool, to save about $25,000 to $35,000 in maintenance costs. This has already been done.

* Cutting irrigation water use by 33% to 66%, letting grass at 35 neighborhood parks go brown and leaving grass at the four larger community parks thirstier than usual, to save $150,000 in water and grounds-keeping costs.

* Trimming administration expenses by $200,000, including cutting staff travel, association memberships, magazine subscriptions and other costs.

* Laying off 12 more workers to save $500,000 a year. The district already laid off nine of its 77 workers last Wednesday.

Cutting off night lights at the tennis and basketball courts.

* Closing the 50-meter pool at Rancho Simi Community Park in the winter months, leaving hundreds of high school and youth team swimmers high and dry.

This last proposal has drawn the loudest complaints.

The pool is used year-round by swim teams from Royal High School and the 200-member Conejo Simi Aquatics team in the evenings and by senior citizens in the mornings. During the summer, the pool is popular with kids trying to keep cool.

“It’s one of the last things open for kids around here,” said Jessica Bachmeier of Simi Valley, watching her 13- and 7-year-old daughters work out with the Conejo Simi Aquatics Team.

“They’re always talking about keeping the kids out of trouble. How much more out of trouble can you be when you’re here five days a week?” Bachmeier said. “The kids work really hard. . . . They really dedicate themselves to it, and they give up a lot to be in sports.”

Simi resident Juanita Chauvin, has a son, 13, and daughter, 10, who swim with the team. “It provides such a healthy outlet for the kids,” Chauvin said. “There’s an overwhelming feeling in the community that we want to keep this pool open. It just can’t be closed.”

She nodded at a far lane, where teen-agers’ backstroking arms traced wet arcs in the afternoon sunlight. “There’s kids over there who are nationally ranked swimmers, who are going to lose their chance of scholarships if this closes.”

If the pool closes in winter, the aquatics teams would have to squeeze hundreds of swimmers into smaller 25-meter high school pools at Thousand Oaks and Newbury Park, and some of the younger swimmers’ parents might be reluctant to make the trip, said Gardner Howland, head coach for the Conejo Simi Aquatics Team.

“It would be a crying shame for a beautiful pool like this to close,” Howland said. Team members pay monthly dues of $40 to $70, and some travel as far as Texas and Minneapolis for national competition.

The teen-age swimmers had some of the strongest words about possible closure of the pool.

“I think it would really suck if it did,” said Byron Olsen, 14, of Simi Valley, breathing hard from five solid minutes of sit-ups before practice.

“I don’t think they have to cut down on expenses. Most of the time the pool’s not being used,” said Byron, a member of both the Conejo Simi Aquatics team and the Royal High School water polo team. “It’s losing money while it’s open during the middle of the day. If there were people coming in and paying, it wouldn’t be.”

Conejo Simi swimmer Courtney Duncan, 13, said, “We could have a fund-raiser or something. I mean I know that sounds like a lame idea, but it could work. They could make more pool activities available during the day to get more people to come and pay money to get in.”

But demand is not that high, said Diana Riley, the park district’s recreation supervisor.

“We’ve tried,” she said Friday. “I’ve offered various classes, and it seems that once the weather starts to cool down at all, I can’t pull anyone in. At the end of the summer, it starts to slow down a lot, then we’re getting into fall and school starts up. . . . I’ve tried over and over to pull people in, and I just can’t.”

The district recently raised rental fees on the pool--switching from a $40 hourly fee for team practices to an $850 fee for a 10-hour block or $500 for six hours, she said.

District officials have been negotiating with school and swim team officials to work out financing plans to keep the pool open, but no agreement has been reached, said Jeff Anderson, the district’s recreation administrator.

It could cost more than $100,000 to keep the pool open from September to June next year, but it also might cost $30,000 to maintain while closed because draining it completely would allow high water levels in surrounding soil to buckle the concrete, he said.

“No one wants to see the pool shut down, least of all the Recreation and Park District,” he said. “I mean it is our pool. You don’t want to have a $2.5-million facility sitting vacant.”