Recreation Department

A capacity crowd of Baltimore residents filled the balcony of City Council chambers yesterday to protest a proposed $2.9 million cut for the parks and recreation department.Over three years, Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke has cut $15 million from the department's budget, resulting in the closing of 18 recreation centers. At the same time, the city has started 27 Police Athletic League centers.Douglas B. Brady Jr., who retired three years ago after working 34 years for parks and recreation, complained that the PAL centers serve only those age 7 to 15. The proposed recreation cuts will affect senior citizens and tiny tots, Brady said.

The cost of swimming in Baltimore pools this summer, renting city facilities and playing in city basketball leagues will increase to help cover $2.9 million in budget cuts to the city recreation department.The increases is expected to bring an additional $60,000 to city coffers and are considered the first of many budget actions to affect residents as the city wrestles with a $153 million deficit over the next four years.Among the increases approved by the city Board of Estimates yesterday are:An increase from 75 cents to $1 for admission to neighborhood pools and a rise of $1 to $1.50 for park pools.

Inside the Clarence Du Burns Arena, one of the Baltimore area's premier soccer facilities, 9-year-old Matthew Wilson's eyes lock on the ball in front of him. His arms and legs twitch in anticipation of scoring.Young Matthew tunes out the faint din of cheering parents, and with lightning-fast speed catapults the ball toward the goal. He scores. Lights flash and bells ring.Matthew looks over at his buddy as the soccer pinball machine quiets down and says, "You got another quarter? I want to play again."

Baltimore recreation and parks chief Marlyn J. Perritt abruptly resigned yesterday, one day after the mayor questioned her leadership and ordered a review of the top management of her agency.Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke said yesterday that he heard about Perritt's resignation secondhand through his deputy chief of staff. He said that he likely will discuss the details of her departure next week."I think she has had to deal with some very difficult situations, particularly the extremely tight budget she's had to deal with and it has been stressful for her," Schmoke said.

Responding to a critical report on Baltimore's ailing Department of Recreation and Parks, agency head Marlyn J. Perritt said yesterday that she will begin an immediate internal review that could result in changes in top management and citywide recreation programs.Perritt pledged yesterday that her department would become more financially independent and would market itself better. She said she has scheduled meetings with her advisory board and senior staff to discuss the department's problems.

As the number of Baltimore's recreation centers continues to plummet because of budget cuts, city leaders are grappling with just how many of the programs and activities can still be offered to the more than 180,000 youngsters in the city.Increasingly, the answer seems to lie with the popular Police Athletic Leagues formed 18 months ago. But for many recreation counselors, the idea of police officers coming in to do their jobs doesn't sit well.Many are resentful, worried and suspicious and say their hard work is not appreciated.

THE BUSINESS of providing recreation programs to all ages is a business that needs to be conducted by trained recreation professionals.The May 10 editorial, ''Police fill rec center void,'' was very disturbing to the thousands of trained recreational professionals working in Maryland to provide a variety of recreation programs from the arts to midnight basketball leagues.We are certainly in agreement with the editorial that provision of such programs can and does fight crime. However, I cannot understand the statement, ''This is important police work.

Just when Towson-area residents were becoming comfortable with a proposed housing development on a 12-acre property in their midst, the possibility of a parklike oasis for the site has been floated temptingly before them.The Baltimore County Planning Board voted Thursday to allow the county's Department of Recreation and Parks to decide if a park is feasible for the vacant parcel on Regester Avenue at Overbrook Road.Board members cited a potential conflict with the Towson Open Space Plan as the reason for their about-face as to what should go on the land -- said to be the last available open-space property in the area.

Artist Maureen Bannon Bushey of Owen Brown Village has returned from her second trip to Poland, where she was based in Warsaw during the opening of the new American Cultural Center.Ms. Bushey's trips have triple purposes. She is interested in learning more about her Polish heritage, culture, roots and language for her personal satisfaction, as well as using these and other facts as material for a book she is writing.Her sketches and paintings of Poland are in preparation for a future exhibit "Passions of Poland," to be held in cooperation and assistance with the Polish Embassy.

The new fine arts and recreation center at South Baltimore's Westport Homes is billed as a refuge from the drug chaos spilling into the city's streets, and it is. It gives children a place to learn dance, drama and music -- instruction which is in short supply in city schools. And the lessons are targeted to show youngsters how to live a drug-free life.It is a worthy goal, but there is much more to the notion of having a friendly place to go after school, on weekends and in the summer. Community centers have introduced generations of young people to adults with whom they could talk over problems, discuss education and life goals and share in the acculturation process that produces good citizens.

Northeast Baltimore teenager Sanchel Brown developed a passion for all forms of dance, from African to tap, at a local recreation center that set her upon her current path to college. But she worries that kids in her neighborhood may be denied the same opportunity because of budget cuts at City Hall. "They complain about the children always making trouble, but we don't have anything to do that's affordable," said Brown, a rising senior at Baltimore City College who is looking to apply to colleges around the state and major in dance.

Name: Willa Brooks Job description: Chair of the eight-member Howard County Recreation and Parks Advisory Board, which represents the public in advising the county rec and parks agency. (It does not decide policy.) Brooks is in her second term, eighth year, in the volunteer job ("I just sent in my resume"), and has been chair for the past five years. Appointed by the county executive, she is the only board member with formal recreation training. Age: 50 Residence: Between Ellicott City and Glenelg.

A capacity crowd of Baltimore residents filled the balcony of City Council chambers yesterday to protest a proposed $2.9 million cut for the parks and recreation department.Over three years, Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke has cut $15 million from the department's budget, resulting in the closing of 18 recreation centers. At the same time, the city has started 27 Police Athletic League centers.Douglas B. Brady Jr., who retired three years ago after working 34 years for parks and recreation, complained that the PAL centers serve only those age 7 to 15. The proposed recreation cuts will affect senior citizens and tiny tots, Brady said.

The cost of swimming in Baltimore pools this summer, renting city facilities and playing in city basketball leagues will increase to help cover $2.9 million in budget cuts to the city recreation department.The increases is expected to bring an additional $60,000 to city coffers and are considered the first of many budget actions to affect residents as the city wrestles with a $153 million deficit over the next four years.Among the increases approved by the city Board of Estimates yesterday are:An increase from 75 cents to $1 for admission to neighborhood pools and a rise of $1 to $1.50 for park pools.

Inside the Clarence Du Burns Arena, one of the Baltimore area's premier soccer facilities, 9-year-old Matthew Wilson's eyes lock on the ball in front of him. His arms and legs twitch in anticipation of scoring.Young Matthew tunes out the faint din of cheering parents, and with lightning-fast speed catapults the ball toward the goal. He scores. Lights flash and bells ring.Matthew looks over at his buddy as the soccer pinball machine quiets down and says, "You got another quarter? I want to play again."

Baltimore recreation and parks chief Marlyn J. Perritt abruptly resigned yesterday, one day after the mayor questioned her leadership and ordered a review of the top management of her agency.Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke said yesterday that he heard about Perritt's resignation secondhand through his deputy chief of staff. He said that he likely will discuss the details of her departure next week."I think she has had to deal with some very difficult situations, particularly the extremely tight budget she's had to deal with and it has been stressful for her," Schmoke said.

Responding to a critical report on Baltimore's ailing Department of Recreation and Parks, agency head Marlyn J. Perritt said yesterday that she will begin an immediate internal review that could result in changes in top management and citywide recreation programs.Perritt pledged yesterday that her department would become more financially independent and would market itself better. She said she has scheduled meetings with her advisory board and senior staff to discuss the department's problems.

As the number of Baltimore's recreation centers continues to plummet because of budget cuts, city leaders are grappling with just how many of the programs and activities can still be offered to the more than 180,000 youngsters in the city.Increasingly, the answer seems to lie with the popular Police Athletic Leagues formed 18 months ago. But for many recreation counselors, the idea of police officers coming in to do their jobs doesn't sit well.Many are resentful, worried and suspicious and say their hard work is not appreciated.

THE BUSINESS of providing recreation programs to all ages is a business that needs to be conducted by trained recreation professionals.The May 10 editorial, ''Police fill rec center void,'' was very disturbing to the thousands of trained recreational professionals working in Maryland to provide a variety of recreation programs from the arts to midnight basketball leagues.We are certainly in agreement with the editorial that provision of such programs can and does fight crime. However, I cannot understand the statement, ''This is important police work.

Just when Towson-area residents were becoming comfortable with a proposed housing development on a 12-acre property in their midst, the possibility of a parklike oasis for the site has been floated temptingly before them.The Baltimore County Planning Board voted Thursday to allow the county's Department of Recreation and Parks to decide if a park is feasible for the vacant parcel on Regester Avenue at Overbrook Road.Board members cited a potential conflict with the Towson Open Space Plan as the reason for their about-face as to what should go on the land -- said to be the last available open-space property in the area.