A proposal to close the gym at the Queen Anne Community Center was met with strong opposition during Wednesday night’s public hearing on the city budget.  Under the mayor’s plan, the gym will be closed in 2011 to make room for BizKid$, a national public television series for children.  BizKid$ will use the gym as a production studio until at least the end of 2011.  Volunteers and supporters of the community center showed up Wednesday in Northgate to tell the City Council they want the gym to stay open.

“Yesterday afternoon the phone was ringing off the hook.  All kinds of parents and coaches wanted information,” said Pat Barger who serves as a volunteer at the community center.

A sign urging the City Council to keep the gym open

The community center gym and McClure’s gym are used by 22 youth basketball teams, and Barger isn’t sure how many of those teams can be relocated.  The gym is also used for several other programs.  Even though the rest of the community center will remain open, Barger fears BizKid$ may eat up other space in the facility.

“It impacts everyone from babies to the elderly.”

The community center will also go from 5 full time staff members to one full time person and two half-time staff members.

Another impact from the proposed budget involves the East Queen Anne wading pool, which will only be open three days a week next summer just as it was this year.

A crowd lines up to speak at Wednesday night’s budget hearing in Northgate

To see more on the mayor’s proposed budget, click here.  

The next public hearing on the budget takes place Wednesday, October 13 at South Seattle Community College at 5:30pm.  The City Council has also set up a  web page where you can submit ideas to balance the budget and vote on other suggestions.

Just as temperatures start to cool later this week, the season will end at the East Queen Anne wading pool on August 22. The wading pool has been open on Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays this summer from noon to 7pm. You may remember that the pool survived budget cuts earlier this year, but has been operating on reduced hours.

The Queen Anne Community Center and Pool will stay open as normal for the rest of this year, but the East Queen Anne wading pool is being cut back to only 3 days a week.  That news came down this morning as the mayor announced his mid-year budget cuts.  The only areas that took a big hit in the Parks budget were wading pools and park maintenance.  The East Queen Anne wading pool will be open Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays from noon to 7pm (June 27 – August 22).

The mayor also decided against any cuts to the fire department budget in the wake of the deadly weekend fire in Fremont.  You can see the complete list of cuts here.