Nutter puts park consolidation on ballot

Yesterday afternoon, during a low-key public show at spiffy, well-groomed Mander Playground, Mayor Nutter ceremoniously signed legislation proposing to change the way Philadelphia parks have been governed since the end of the Civil War.

The legislation, passed in June by City Council, calls for voters to approve abolishing the Fairmount Park Commission and combining management of the city's parks and recreation facilities into a Department of Parks and Recreation under the mayor's authority.

The independent Fairmount Park Commission, which governs the park and has approval power over land sales and leases on park property, was established by state law in 1867. Eliminating it and merging Fairmount Park with the Recreation Department require a change in the 1951 City Charter, which voters will decide Nov. 4.

Nutter told a small crowd at 33d and Diamond Streets, including about two dozen children from the Discovery Charter School, that a merger was the best way to "preserve and enhance" the long-underfunded park system and the underfunded Recreation Department.

"They can give us more in a combined situation than they ever could separate and apart from each other," Nutter said.

The Fairmount Park Commission would become an advisory board that largely would make policy recommendations. The mayor would appoint members based on nominations from Council.

Councilman Darrell L. Clarke and Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown, both on hand for the signing, credited Nutter's decision to devote a portion of the city's parking tax to park funding as critical to passage of the legislation.

Nutter has proposed an additional $2.5 million in Fairmount Park funding for next fiscal year, bringing the operating budget to about $15.6 million.

In the last month and a half, however, city department heads have been asked to deliver "contingency" cuts in the face of grim fiscal forecasts. Very deep cuts for parks and recreation are rumored to be under consideration.

Nutter declined yesterday to discuss specifics.

"Everything people are talking about, anything anybody hears, is rumor, speculation, and often outright wrong because there are no facts at the moment," he said. "We're still going through our evaluation process. Departments are bringing us information based on target budgets they've received, but no decisions have been made."

He would not elaborate on possible park and recreation cuts.