Southside Park residents push back against proposed pool hour reductions

Neighbors in Southside Park are raising concerns over proposed Sacramento budget cuts that could reduce hours at city pools this summer, including keeping the Southside Park pool open only three days a week.Residents said the proposal is especially frustrating because the community pool has already faced years of closures and limited access.Neighbors said they still do not know when or how often the newly refurbished pool will be open.“No, we sure can’t. That beautiful new pool,” Southside Park resident Jessica Nicholson said when asked whether residents could access it.“Frustrating. Very frustrating. It’s unfair,” Nicholson said.The pool was closed for three years for renovations and reopened last summer. Nicholson said the pool is an important resource for families in the area.“Sacramento has a lot of low-income neighborhoods and a lot of low-income families,” Nicholson said. “And this is a very affordable, accessible way to cool off and to entertain your kids and your families during the summer.”The concerns come as Sacramento faces a $66 million deficit and city leaders consider cuts to programs and services. According to the proposed city budget, the Southside Park pool would remain open only three days a week.Members of the Southside Park Neighborhood Association said they have long supported access to the pool and are now asking the city to preserve that investment.“Our neighborhood association has put out hundreds of dollars every year to support $1 family days, to pick up the costs for swim lessons for underprivileged kids,” said Marnie Leger of the Southside Park Neighborhood Association. “So we’re doing what we can do, and we just want the city to meet us halfway.”Neighbors hosted a roundtable meeting Monday night with Councilmember Phil Pluckebaum in hopes of preventing cuts to parks and recreation.“He’s telling me what I want to hear or what our neighborhood wants to hear,” Leger said. “But when it comes down to where the money is going to come from and where the other cuts are going to be, I don’t know.”Pluckebaum said the city has not fully restored parks funding since the Recession.“We have not restored Parks funding in the last two decades to the level that it was prior to the Great Recession that we had in 2006,” Pluckebaum said.He added that “communities like South Side Park and really every park throughout the city are still just kind of limping along, and it shows.”City leaders are expected to continue budget deliberations Tuesday night, with the city council set to finalize the budget in early June.“The challenge comes then, when you’ve got a lot of high priorities, how do you balance and weigh all of those competing priorities?” Pluckebaum said.He also said the current budget process is “a chance for us to look at other places in the budget that have grown inflated over the last decade or so and restore some services to parks.”Residents said they understand the city is dealing with a major deficit, but they want leaders to make sure the cuts are shared fairly and do not fall disproportionately on neighborhoods like theirs.“With our hot summers and kids who can walk or bike here, who have transportation problems otherwise aren’t going to have any place to go,” Leger said. “That’s not good for the kids, that’s not good for the city.”Neighbors said they are not waiting to see what happens. They are organizing, raising money, and urging residents to contact city leaders before final budget decisions are made.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

Neighbors in Southside Park are raising concerns over proposed Sacramento budget cuts that could reduce hours at city pools this summer, including keeping the Southside Park pool open only three days a week.

Residents said the proposal is especially frustrating because the community pool has already faced years of closures and limited access.

Neighbors said they still do not know when or how often the newly refurbished pool will be open.

“No, we sure can’t. That beautiful new pool,” Southside Park resident Jessica Nicholson said when asked whether residents could access it.

“Frustrating. Very frustrating. It’s unfair,” Nicholson said.

The pool was closed for three years for renovations and reopened last summer. Nicholson said the pool is an important resource for families in the area.

“Sacramento has a lot of low-income neighborhoods and a lot of low-income families,” Nicholson said. “And this is a very affordable, accessible way to cool off and to entertain your kids and your families during the summer.”

The concerns come as Sacramento faces a $66 million deficit and city leaders consider cuts to programs and services. According to the proposed city budget, the Southside Park pool would remain open only three days a week.

Members of the Southside Park Neighborhood Association said they have long supported access to the pool and are now asking the city to preserve that investment.

“Our neighborhood association has put out hundreds of dollars every year to support $1 family days, to pick up the costs for swim lessons for underprivileged kids,” said Marnie Leger of the Southside Park Neighborhood Association. “So we’re doing what we can do, and we just want the city to meet us halfway.”

Neighbors hosted a roundtable meeting Monday night with Councilmember Phil Pluckebaum in hopes of preventing cuts to parks and recreation.

“He’s telling me what I want to hear or what our neighborhood wants to hear,” Leger said. “But when it comes down to where the money is going to come from and where the other cuts are going to be, I don’t know.”

Pluckebaum said the city has not fully restored parks funding since the Recession.

“We have not restored Parks funding in the last two decades to the level that it was prior to the Great Recession that we had in 2006,” Pluckebaum said.

He added that “communities like South Side Park and really every park throughout the city are still just kind of limping along, and it shows.”

City leaders are expected to continue budget deliberations Tuesday night, with the city council set to finalize the budget in early June.

“The challenge comes then, when you’ve got a lot of high priorities, how do you balance and weigh all of those competing priorities?” Pluckebaum said.

He also said the current budget process is “a chance for us to look at other places in the budget that have grown inflated over the last decade or so and restore some services to parks.”

Residents said they understand the city is dealing with a major deficit, but they want leaders to make sure the cuts are shared fairly and do not fall disproportionately on neighborhoods like theirs.

“With our hot summers and kids who can walk or bike here, who have transportation problems otherwise aren’t going to have any place to go,” Leger said. “That’s not good for the kids, that’s not good for the city.”

Neighbors said they are not waiting to see what happens. They are organizing, raising money, and urging residents to contact city leaders before final budget decisions are made.

See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel