JLSP Responds with Concerns Regarding Saint Paul's Parks and Recreation Center Overhall Plan

Contributed by Susie Schatz, Advocacy Committee

The City of Saint Paul is in the process of creating a Parks and Recreation Center Overhaul Plan. This plan includes reducing the number of buildings in the Parks and Recreation Centers and switching the focus of the remaining centers. The plan is online and can be read at http://www.stpaul.gov/.

There are two buildings at risk that the Junior League of Saint Paul have been working with through our plays program. They are Hayden Heights and McDonough. The Junior League of Saint Paul Advocacy Committee in partnership with the Community Council has crafted a statement to be read at a public hearing to discuss the plan on November 15, 2010 at the Oxford Community Center. The focus of the statement is to remind the city council members to consider low-income children and families that use these centers. The final plan will be released in December and the City Council will vote on the plan in January.

JLSP Statement to the Saint Paul City Council:

The Junior League of Saint Paul (JLSP) is an organization of women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women, and improving communities through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. For over 90 years, the JLSP has improved the Saint Paul community by identifying unmet needs, forging effective coalitions and working for change, all on a volunteer basis.

In collaboration with the City of Saint Paul Mayor's office and the Parks and Recreation Department, the JLSP launched Saint Paul Plays! in 2008, an area of our current initiative, Building Bonds through Reading and Play, which brings the developmental value and connection-making power of play to Saint Paul families through play events at area Recreation Centers. This initiative seeks to promote connections between children and adults, with the ultimate aim of reducing child abuse.

The JLSP offered city-wide play nights at area recreation centers, serving hundreds of Saint Paul children in lower income areas where there existed the highest needs. Several of these locations, specifically Hayden Heights and McDonough Recreation centers, are slated for significant changes in the newly announced plan from the City of Saint Paul Parks and Recreation Department.

There are several concerns and recommendations that the JLSP would like to bring forward as this planning process continues.

Concerns:

1) After school alternatives. For many families, after school programs at recreation centers are lifesavers. Children have a safe, fun place to stay after school where they can receive help with homework, and have positive interactions with adults. Centers like McDonough are open Monday through Friday, 3-6 pm. This allows parents to work without the stress and sometimes the expense of childcare. Losing these vital, easily accessible recreation centers that meet this need can be devastating to families and would have long term impacts on communities.

2) Transportation. While fewer, more high quality parks sounds good, transportation is a significant barrier to many families. McDonough Recreation Center is located in a highly populated area and serves children from the public housing facilities surrounding it and most can walk to the center. Transportation is a major barrier to low income families in any community and if operations at this facility and those similar to it are lost, children and families will likely suffer tremendous hardship in accessing services due to lack of transportation. Families may be forced to choose alternative, less desirable means of childcare without these facilities, missing opportunities for the positive interactions and interventions currently provided.

3) Serving children from low-income families. More ball parks, dog parks, and skating rinks. These amenities do bring value to communities. However, they should not come at the expense of serving children from lower income families and the long term impact these interventions can have on children’s lives and our communities. JLSP volunteers play with hundreds of Saint Paul children each year at these recreation centers. Research shows that play helps children develop crucial social, language, vocabulary, creativity, reasoning, problem solving, memory and cognitive skills. On MPR, Mayor Coleman stated, "If you don't make sure that the children you're raising in the community have the education skills they need to take jobs in those new companies you're hoping to attract to your community, then you're simply not going to be able to sustain any bricks and mortar efforts” (St. Paul mayor works 'second shift', MPR, 2008).

Recommendations:

1) Turning over of operations. We ask that consideration of low income children and families be of the highest priority in this parks plan. Articles have sited that there are plans to turn over the operations of several recreation centers to nonprofits. We ask that these nonprofits guarantee to continue serving low income children with high quality after school opportunities like Rec Check and the Police Activities League that are currently in place at McDonough. As these programs cut off at grade 6, we ask that these nonprofits provide programming to kids beyond the 6th grade to provide positive after school options. These types of agreements with nonprofits serving children will keep these centers conveniently located for families for easy access when transportation is a barrier.

2) Community centers. Facilities designed to serve all community members, like the one proposed to replace Hayden Heights, are a benefit to any city. We ask that these community centers include extensive programming for children to access opportunities to build positive relationships with adults and other children, including after school opportunities for homework help, mentorship, and play time. Community centers will be a draw to any neighborhood, and we ask that they be located in areas where children and families with the most significant needs and barriers to transportation have the easiest access to them.

Saint Paul has often been called a city of parks. This feature and the accessibility to parks for everyone, regardless of income, is one reason we boast of our high quality of life. While in these difficult economic times, we recognize the need for cities to make difficult financial decisions, we must not lose sight of who is most significantly impacted by these changes. If we neglect to serve the children and families who rely on these recreation centers, we are neglecting not only them, but the future of our community.