Golf Alliance Members --
The San Francisco
Board of Supervisors' Budget Committee wraps up its public hearings on
Monday, June 28, at which time it will likely vote on recommended
alterations to the Mayor's proposed 2010-2012 budget to be sent on to
the Full Board (which will vote to adopt a budget at the Full Board's
July 13 meeting.
In the Rec & Park
Department's two public hearing appearances before the Budget Committee
on June 17 and 24, there was not a mention of Sharp Park by anybody, and
there were no questions from the Supervisors to the Rec & Park
staff as to what amount of money is in the 2010-2012 budget for Sharp,
or whether or not Sharp "makes money" or "loses money" for the city. Nor was there any question about the amount of
capital expenses relating to Sharp in the 2010-2012 budget. Sharp Park
in fact does not appear as a separate line item in the published
2010-2012 Rec & Park budget; and it is not possible to tell from
that document how much money is spent or taken in by the city at the Sharp Park Golf Course.
At the June 21 public comment
session, the Golf Course's Opponents, as expected, made the argument
that Sharp Park should be closed in order to make more money available
in the 2010-2012 budget for social services, arts, and public parks
programs that would otherwise be cut. However,
Golf's Opponents did not introduce any evidence -- and
the Supervisors asked for none -- of so-called fiscal "losses" at
Sharp. On the other hand, SF Public Golf Alliance
introduced evidence obtained in the course of the 2009 Rec & Park
Department Sharp Park public
hearings that Sharp Park Golf Course brings in more money to the
Department than it costs to operate. We also
pointed out that the proposed 2010-2012 budget contains no capital
expense line items (such a sea wall repair, environmental habitat
restoration, etc) attributable to the golf course. So
there would be no fiscal savings to the city from closing the golf
course.
Keep an eye on the Supervisors'
Budget Committee's hearing Monday, June 28, beginning at 10 a.m.
It will be live-televised on
SFGovTV:
Keep the Faith.
-- Richard Harris
San Francisco
Public Golf Alliance
415-392-5431, ext.
203
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