Recreation

Boasting more than 100 recreations centers, Baltimore was hailed a decade ago as an example for all aging cities to nurture the young.There are few accolades today. With just 58 centers, 35 percent fewer staff and a looming threat by the mayor to slash the department's budget by an unprecedented 17 percent, recreation in the city is in crisis.The slack, Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke hopes, will be taken up by the explosive growth of Police Athletic Leagues, cash-rich organizations that subsist on private donations and federal grants.

Bob Wade, the former University of Maryland basketball coach who has been working in a special job created for him by Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, was promoted yesterday to a position earning at least $50,000 a year in the Baltimore Department of Recreation and Parks.Marlyn J. Perritt, the director of the recreation and parks agency, announced Mr. Wade's promotion within weeks of abolishing the jobs of five top agency administrators. Mr. Wade has been named acting superintendent of recreation, replacing James Grant, who retired two weeks ago, said Alma T. Bell, a spokeswoman for the agency.

Opening night of Baltimore County's Fantasy of Lights display at Fort Howard Park drew scant turnout, but the volunteers operating the show for the first time hope Thanksgiving's poor attendance isn't the precursor for the 40-night run."I'm not worried yet," said Greg Kirkpatrick, 51, past president of the Edgemere-Sparrows Point Recreation Council and administrator of the light show."I can't see how it could be a bust. The county set it up for nothing, the volunteers don't cost us, and the only cost is the heat in the [refreshment and entertainment]

IF MIDNIGHT basketball is seen as an answer to the problems of urban juveniles, why not take the same position for mid-afternoon basketball in the suburbs?It's a serious question raised by the recent difficulties with after-school sports programs in Howard County middle schools, which fell victim to education budget cuts.The $77,000 to pay for the intramural athletic programs was eliminated from the school budget in favor of classroom spending. That was probably the right choice, given the budget cut imposed on the Howard school board.

The long-abandoned middle school on Bloomsbury Avenue might just be the most controversial building in Catonsville. Six years ago, a long debate centered over whether the building should be recycled as a middle school. That was followed by an unsuccessful fight by preservationists to save the building's wings. Now, the original 76-year-old structure in the 100 block of Bloomsbury Ave. is being renovated to become Baltimore County's largest community recreation center, Bloomsbury Community Center.

LET US pray that the audacious order of the county commissioners banning scheduled recreation activities on Sunday mornings will be rescinded. For the information of Commissioner Robin Bartlett Frazier, this is not a "Christian nation" subject to the tyranny of whatever "majority" claims divine right of power. It is a nation of religious freedom and tolerance, of respect for differing beliefs and practices, of official separation of church and state. Admittedly, there is a cultural tradition in Carroll that consciously, practically limits official activities on Sunday mornings because many residents may have a conflict with worship services.

DURING LEAN BUDGET times such as these, recreation projects generally fall at least a few notches on the government's priority list. We need police and sewer service; we can live without ballfields and golf courses. Still, we want ballfields and golf courses. Contingents of citizens asking for more recreational facilities show up year after year at budget hearings each spring. Demand for nice golf courses is particularly great.Under legislation now before the General Assembly, Anne Arundel County would be able to meet these demands without diverting resources from essential services and increasing its debt.

A committee considering Mount Airy's recreation needs has found itself also wondering how to build a sense of community in a fast-growing commuter town.Town meetings held by the Mount Airy Pro-Active Committee, created in January after residents protested a Town Council action barring children and teen-agers from playing in the streets, attracted more than 150 people.Residents submitted ideas ranging from a Mount Airy high school to a community swimming pool. Their ideas were incorporated into the 14-member committee's report.

Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke's last spending plan took another step forward yesterday when the $1.8 billion budget bill was introduced in the City Council, where some members are raising concerns about proposed cuts for recreation programs.The mayor plans $3 million in cuts to the city's recreation and parks department.Some council members, while praising the mayor's plan to increase funding for the overburdened court system, criticized the recreation cuts, saying they will open the door to trouble for idle youths.

AS ONE OF THE region's fast-growing jurisdictions, Anne Arundel County is woefully short of recreation facilities.So great is pent-up demand for forums suitable for indoor sports that for more than a year, community groups have been squabbling over space at Pasadena's Lake Shore Arena.Can you imagine how intense the competition would be if a facility to fight over existed? Construction on that $7 million arena has not even begun. The first shovels should bite the ground this spring."Basically everything is a 'go,' " says Anne Arundel's recreation chief, Thomas F. Angelis.