This past week, the City Council listened to presentations about possible changes to the mayor’s budget plan for next year. Next week, they start making decisions about possible changes, before finalizing a plan around November 21st. A group of Southwest Community Center users concerned about the mayor’s proposal to change it into a Teen Life Center and Neighborhood Service Center invited councilmembers to visit – and Councilmember Tom Rasmussen accepted their offer, visiting SWCC on Friday afternoon, to talk and tour.

The Family Learning Program is particularly concerned; their program has grown since starting earlier this year at SWCC, and while they have been told they can keep using space there, they told Rasmussen that much of the functional space they use will be taken away by changes to the building that will be necessary to turn it into a Neighborhood Service Center. They believe the city used bad data in deciding that SWCC was underutilized, as it’s had frequent closures in the past few years for upgrades and repairs, some of which aren’t even fully paid off yet, though their availability to the public will be curtailed if these changes are made.

Rasmussen asked if the SWCC supporters had reached out to other councilmembers; yes, they said, but nobody else responded. He suggested they try again, and promised to convey what he had heard. And when asked what else they could do – he suggested offering other money-saving or revenue-raising ideas, to show what could be done to save money instead of changing operations at SWCC.

You can keep an eye on the ongoing council budget process here.