SIMI VALLEY : Rally Held to Protest State Funding Cuts

More than 100 residents, community leaders and park officials met at a Simi Valley park Monday to protest a property tax shift proposed by Gov. Pete Wilson that would cut half of next fiscal year’s funding for the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District.

Park officials have said that the loss of money, coming on the heels of a 37% budget loss to the state last year, could result in closed pools, dead lawns and other cutbacks.

“This community has invested far too much in its beautiful parks and facilities to let them deteriorate,” said Bonnie Carpenter, chairwoman of the district’s board of directors. “Parks and recreation are a vital part of our lives.”

Carpenter’s message was applauded by spectators sitting on a lush green hillside overlooking the amphitheater at Rancho Simi Community Park.

“Hell no, our pool won’t go,” chanted a group of bathing cap-clad girls still dripping wet from a swim in the park’s 50-meter pool.

Park officials say the pool, used by community groups and school athletic teams, will probably be closed from September to June if Wilson follows through on a plan to take $2.5 million of the district’s property taxes and reallocate it to education.

Those who attended the protest were urged to write to the governor and other state officials to express their outrage.

“Frankly, ladies and gentlemen, I am appalled that it could come to this in our community and our state,” said Steve Snyder, coach of the Royal High School swim team.

Snyder, whose team works out in the pool, said that its winter closure would rob children of one more positive outlet in a time when more and more youths are turning to graffiti and vandalism.

“These swimmers aren’t out tagging walls in the community, they’re working their fannies off in that pool,” Snyder said.

Sandy Stelle, whose son swims in the pool with Conejo Simi Aquatics, said the loss of funding to the park district would hurt the community.

“You have to have something positive to give these kids. Saying ‘no’ is nothing,” she said. “All of the things that happen here, the sports and the recreation are positive. It would be criminal to take that away from them.”