The Robb Field Recreation Center in Ocean Beach remains a target for potential closure and the Point Loma/Hervey Library would lose half its Saturday hours after San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria revised his budget proposal that aims to prevent a huge deficit in the upcoming fiscal year.
Gloria’s initial proposal last month included a scenario in which 16 rec centers around the city, including Robb Field’s, could be shuttered. Under the new plan, nine recreation centers would fully close, and the Robb Field center remains on the list.
In addition, the Point Loma library at 3701 Voltaire St. is among six city branches that would have their Saturday hours cut in half. The library currently is open from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays.
Additional budget savings would come from extended closures of the Ocean Beach and Rancho Peñasquitos library branches for renovations.
The long-planned renovation and expansion of the Ocean Beach Library at 4801 Santa Monica Ave. would remodel the existing 5,066-square-foot building and add a 2,738-square-foot extension after demolition of a two-story annex building on an adjacent parcel. The proposal includes a new community meeting room, a teen area, an outdoor gathering space, office space, an expanded book collection area, new restrooms, new landscaping and more. Project leaders hope to begin construction on the estimated 15-month, $13.4 million plan this winter, according to the San Diego Engineering & Capital Projects Department.
Gloria announced his revised budget proposal May 13.
A month earlier as part of the annual budget process, he had released a 40-page analysis ranking the city’s 56 recreation centers and 37 library branches based on what the report considered their importance to their communities. The rankings were intended to provide the City Council with possible scenarios to consider when making budget cuts to help close a $146 million deficit projected for the 2026-27 fiscal year, which begins July 1.
The Robb Field Recreation Center at 2525 Bacon St. was not on the list of the 10 centers considered least needed in the rankings, though it did land on the latest list of the nine that would be closed.
When Gloria released his initial proposed budget April 15, he said libraries and recreation centers must sustain cuts so the city could avoid severe reductions in higher priorities such as public safety, infrastructure, transportation and homelessness programs.
“It’s quite clear that the mayor’s budget is punitive,” said Eric Law, chairman of the Peninsula Community Planning Board, a local advisory group to the city on land-use issues. “Rather than cut the administrative bloat in recently added staff middle management positions, he intends to inflict pain on San Diegans through closing parks, libraries and recreation centers. This is not leadership, it’s pettiness.
“His campaign to balance the budget on the backs of the people is completely tone-deaf. … Deep cuts to staff and non-core programs are required. We must get leaner, eliminate overhead and focus on being good at the basics of governance. Closing Robb Field and reducing library hours will have a disproportionate impact on the young, old and lower-income earners, which is precisely the wrong place to start.”
Gloria says his revised proposal prioritizes libraries and rec centers in low-income City Council Districts 4, 8 and 9 — all south of Interstate 8 — and focuses proposed cuts elsewhere in the city.
Rankings for the recreation centers and libraries were based on a variety of factors, including the average income nearby, the variety of programs offered at the site, the crime rate and the site’s proximity to similar city facilities. Another factor considered for rec centers was whether similar programs are offered nearby by nonprofit organizations or commercial facilities.
The Ocean Beach Recreation Center at 4726 Santa Monica Ave. is slated to remain open.
City budget hearings took place last week amid widespread opposition to Gloria’s initial plans, particularly his proposed cuts to arts, libraries and recreation.
During a news conference to discuss the changes, Gloria said that in recent weeks, “we have heard from residents, community organizations, advocates, city employees … who responded in public hearings and an online survey, as well as members of the City Council, about the difficult choices that are faced by the deficit.”
The revision, he said, reflects the feedback the city has received thus far.
That includes partially “restoring recreation center and library hours,” Gloria said. “These are practical, target restorations that I know we can afford.”
Gloria said the $13.5 million needed to reverse proposed cuts comes primarily from revising upward estimates of hotel tax revenue during the new fiscal year and a new $4.3 million rent payment from city golf courses.
Funding for shoreline restrooms also would be fully restored in the revised budget, but it does not restore any funding for local arts organizations, which still face potential elimination of $11.8 million in annual city grants.
The budget proposal also still includes dozens of layoffs, elimination of the Office of Child and Youth Success and cuts to homeless services, zoning investigators and facilities maintenance.
San Diego City Council President Joe LaCava speaks at a May 13 news conference about the city budget for the next fiscal year. (Screenshot by Ashley Mackin-Solomon)
City Council President Joe LaCava thanked Gloria for restoring hours at recreation centers and libraries in some areas “while remaining firm in our equity commitment to serving the needs of the residents in Districts 4, 8 and 9. … This was the hard work of further consolidating programs for efficiency, trimming or deferring lower-priority items and listening to the public.”
City Council members must submit their final budget memos by Wednesday, May 20, and the council is scheduled to adopt a budget on Tuesday, June 9. It must be adopted by Tuesday, June 30.
— Union-Tribune Community Press staff writer Ashley Mackin-Solomon contributed to this report.