SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Families and youth sports groups across San Diego are pushing back against proposed cuts to recreation center hours.
Mayor Todd Gloria says the city needs to cut $5.4 million from parks and recreation to help close a $118 million deficit.
For San Diego families, recreation centers are where kids go after school and where teams go to practice. Now, many worry about the future of these programs under the mayor's proposed budget cuts.
For many kids, the basketball court is their favorite part of the day, especially after the school bell rings.
"I love playing basketball. It's my passion in life, and I shoot around about every day after school at the rec, and it's really fun," Bodie Lockhart said.
Shooting basketball and being with friends are what make the recreation center so special for Lockhart. Now, he worries his time on the court will be cut short.
"I play because every time I play, I get better, and it would be devastating for Sharks to have less practices and not be able to practice here because it's a great facility and it's really fun playing here," Lockhart said.
The San Diego Sharks Basketball Club, which runs more than 30 teams, rents out and relies on facilities like the Tierrasanta Recreation Center to host practices.
"These are very, very crucial to us being able to run our programs for the youth and for the families," Stephen Winters said.
Gloria's proposed budget cuts would reduce recreation center hours. Winters worries that the busiest hours could be on the chopping block, especially the after-school hours. He says it would also mean a loss for the city.
"By shutting down hours at the end of rec centers, if they did it across the board, it's very impactful because they lose permit money so they lose money on people actually getting the permits and by losing money on the permits, it's a lot of money lost for the city, so it's a double whammy to close the rec centers early," Winters said.
Winters says the club is starting to consider a backup plan if hours are cut, but he hopes city leaders will hear the message before making a final decision.
A revised budget is expected in mid-May.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
