April 29, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

Traffic calming, summer stock programs face ax

by Bill D'Agostino

A controversial program to "calm" neighborhood traffic will cease, a beloved summer theatre program for young adults will end, and 18 city employees will be laid off if the Palo Alto City Council approves the city manager's proposed $120 million budget.

The proposal for 2005-06, unveiled on Thursday, prompted an immediate outcry from union leaders worried about their at-risk workers and from those who care deeply about the targeted programs.

Other proposed cuts include the end of outdoor programs run by the city's rangers, various increased fees, slower police enforcement of parking and noise violations, and reduced outreach to businesses.

Theatergoers could also see a new $1 fee on tickets for shows in city facilities. It's a fee that would affect prices for Theatreworks and Palo Alto Players performances, among others.

Nonprofits the local government supports could also see a 5 percent reduction in the city's contributions to their budgets.

And the city manager is also proposing that property owners co-pay a portion of sidewalks repairs, which the city has entirely funded until now.

The city's General Fund is facing a projected $5.2 million shortfall, the result primarily of declining tax revenues and increasing employee costs, according to City Manger Frank Benest. If the council approves his budget, it will bring the city's spending in line with its projected revenues for this and future years, he said.

The city's utilities are budgeted separately from the general fund.

The city manager insisted the cuts were needed. "We just don't have any more rabbits to pull out of our hats," Benest said.

In the past few years, the city cut 40 positions through attrition, and there were few cuts to public services, aside from the elimination of a few special events, the deferral of maintenance to fields and community centers and the reduction of hours at libraries.

This year, the Library Department is proposed to face the smallest share of the budget cuts, the result of the community's increased attention to the libraries' inadequacies last year, Benest said.

The council's Finance Committee will hold budget hearings on Tuesdays and Thursdays in May to review the proposal. The meetings are likely to be filled with residents opposing various sections of the budget. The full council is scheduled to approve the budget in June.

Ending the 22-year-old summer stock program, run by the Palo Alto Children's Theatre, will save the city approximately $28,500 a year.

Ann Lindbeck, the co-president of the Friends of the Palo Alto Children's Theatre, said she was "very disappointed" the program, known as Wingspread, was targeted.

"It surprises me they would consider cutting a teen program when there's all this conversation about teen stress and having meaningful things to do, especially in the evening," Lindbeck said.

Approximately 40 to 50 students of high school and college age perform four shows each summer as part of Wingspread. They audition to be in the company. Younger performers often aspire to perform there when they get too old to still act in the other Children's Theatre programs, Lindbeck said.

Wingspread costs the city about $43,000, but makes $14,500 from tickets and other revenue.

The "neighborhood traffic calming program," also proposed to be permanently eliminated, works by asking locals to help conceive a plan to slow the automobile traffic in their neighborhood, aiming to make the streets safer for bicyclists and pedestrians and reduce car crashes. The program installs devises, including speed bumps, stop signs and roadblocks, to achieve those goals.

However, the program has often caused divisions in some neighborhoods, especially last year when the neighborhood association in Downtown North got seven roadblocks installed as part of a trial project. The City Council, after hearing loud protests from opposing neighbors, voted to remove them and test "traffic circles" in six of those intersections instead.

Neighborhood traffic projects already begun -- such as in the College Terrace Neighborhood -- will still be completed, according to city officials. Also, the city's transportation officials will continue to work to increase the safety of school commutes using similar methods.

Meanwhile, 18 city workers were given notices this week they could be laid off.

"It's heartbreaking," said Maya Spector, a librarian and chair of city's chapter of the Service Employees International Union, the city's larges union.

Some of the targeted workers have children and some are sick, Spector said. "It's really wreaking havoc with people's lives."

The city manager is also proposing to eliminate 15 other positions through attrition, and to force three other employees to reduce their hours and pay.

Workers possibly losing their jobs include a park ranger, a recreation supervisor, an IT manager, four senior technologists, numerous assistants, a code enforcement officer and a community services officer. Three of the workers targeted are part-time employees.

"The morale in the city is terrible," Spector said. "It's going to take a long time to recover from it."

SEIU workers are also upset because they feel some of their money-saving ideas aren't being heard, according to Spector. She spoke at the City Council meeting on Monday advocating early retirement incentives.

But that would not help since the workers who likely would retire early under than plan would still need to be replaced, according to Carl Yeats, administrative services director. That plan would only cost money, not save it, he said.

"We will continue to explore all the options we can possibly explore," Spector said. "We are not going to accept this blindly."

No firefighters or sworn police officers are targeted for layoffs, and response times to emergencies are not expected to lengthen by the proposed budget cuts.

"We just don't think it would be prudent to reduce public safety spending," Yeats said.

Staff Writer Bill D'Agostino can be e-mailed at bdagostino@paweekly.com.

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