Claremont's Human Services Commission is holding a special meeting today at 3:30pm at the Alexander Hughes Community Center. The commission will discuss whether the city should swap the senior programs at the Joslyn Center in Larkin Park over to the Hughes Center and move the recreation programs from the Hughes to the Joslyn Center.
The agenda for the special meeting gives the commission two choices:
- That the commission receive the proposal to shift the senior programs to the Alexander Hughes Community Center and recreation programs to the Joslyn Center.
- That the commission determine if there is general support for staff to continue to investigate this option.
Why the need to switch the programs? You might recall that the city had talked about a $10-12 million expansion of the Joslyn Center to accommodate the demand for more space for senior programs. The staff report for today's meeting informs us that the Joslyn expansion is pretty much dead, a casualty of our tough economic times and competition for dollars from other capital projects.
As we wrote yesterday, the projects on the city council's priority list include the new police station ($25-35 million), Padua Ave. Sports Park ($10-12 million total when complete), the water company purchase ($100+ million), and whatever affordable housing the city decides to build.
According to the Human Services Department's analysis, staff has consistently overestimated the need for its recreation programs. The report says:
What the staff learned, in looking over the previous three years of revenues, was that the Department never achieved its budgeted projections [for revenues from recreation programs], but continued to increase its budget projections. The gap between revenue projections and actual revenues received grew each fiscal year. In an effort to bring actual revenues in line, staff reduced revenues by 12% and next set out to analyze participation levels.
It turned out that staff had also overestimated the demand for its Human Services recreation programs: "Staff learned that many programs offered were achieving minimal or no sign ups. In order to change this, staff began to promote the programs in different ways."
These "different ways" included marketing Claremont's recreation programs to Upland, La Verne and Montclair residents. In addition, the programs were discounted. However, the staff report says, "None of these efforts had a significant impact on participation or revenue received and revenue projections were reduced again by 23% in the 2008-09 budget."
The report goes on to say that about 40% of the recreation programs at the Hughes Center were underutilized. At the same time, the senior programs at the Joslyn and Blaisdell Centers were bursting at the seams. Why? Because seniors represent the fastest growing segment of Claremont's population. The staff report states:
According to the the 2006 General Plan, seniors currently make up approximately 27% of the total population in Claremont. They represent the fastest growing segment of the City's population as the Baby Boomers have begun to reach the age of 60. The Committee on Aging has long led the charge for more facilities for senior programs and has pursued the need for a facility expansion of both Joslyn and Blaisdell.
This is news? We and other have argued the same thing before and have said that rather than pursue the full (and very expensive) Padua Sports Park, which would serve a youth population that is stable or even slightly shrinking, the city should instead invest in more senior programs. Those arguments have apparently finally found some receptive ears, and it was refreshing to see a Human Services staff report that lays out the truth of the matter in clear, simple terms.
Claremont Human Services Commission
Special Meeting - Wednesday, July 16th, 3:30pm
Alexander Hughes Community Center, Padua Room
1700 N. Danbury Rd.
Claremont, CA 91711
Posts
