Dear Friend of Recreation and Parks,

The San Francisco Recreation and Park Department strives to provide clean, safe and fun parks and quality recreational programming, regardless of ability to pay, for all San Franciscans.

As you may know, after consecutive years of serious budget cuts to our department, this year, we were asked to reduce our budget by an unprecedented $12.4 million for the 2010-11 fiscal year.   We creatively solved much of our budget cuts through revenue proposals, but staffing reductions were unavoidable.  In order to preserve public recreation given the cuts we have suffered, the department has adopted a new, more efficient recreation model that is a high-performing industry best practice.  It is one that allows us to better deliver great recreation programs, such as youth or adult sports, visual and performing arts, child development activities, after school programs, senior recreation options, outdoor adventuring and more.

We are focusing our resources at our 25 full-service recreation facilities.  Your neighborhood Recreation Center will be staffed by a Facility Coordinator, who will manage the day-to-day operations of the facility.  You will also see a Program Coordinator there who will ensure robust programming is delivered at your facility – and citywide.  These staff will partner with neighborhood leaders serving on a seven-member Community Recreation Council to ensure that relevant programming and events are provided at your site.  From this collaborative effort, we will provide you the active and exciting recreation activities that you’re looking for – delivered by part-time recreation professionals who are expert in their field.  At your neighborhood Clubhouse, we will seek to provide recreation activities that are similarly responsive to neighborhood need with the help of community partner organizations that share our mission to provide quality recreation and community services.  Your local clubhouse will also be available for community events, birthday parties and other special occasions.

Our nine pools will remain open, although some pool schedules are being adjusted to more efficiently deploy our lifeguards and swim instructors. Our pools will also be supported and guided by Community Recreation Councils.

Throughout this summer, we have conducted a robust and highly competitive hiring process to support this new recreation model.  While we do not have the budget to hire everyone we wish, we are really pleased with the talent and dedication of those who are being selected.

We appreciate your support of public recreation and your local recreation directors.   In our new recreation model, you will see familiar faces as well as some new ones at your favorite facility.  While budget times are tough and change is hard, we are confident that this new model will help us preserve public recreation — and rejuvenate it.

We appreciate your patience, your support and your passion for recreation and parks.

For fall program schedules and program registration, please visit us online at www.parks.sfgov.org, or call us at (415) 831-6800.

Get out and play! Sincerely,

Phil Ginsburg
General Manager