West Side Residents Discuss Recreation Centers, Police Sacrifices

10 TV: Hundreds of west side residents gathered Thursday night for the third of four community meetings called by Columbus Police to talk about the division's finances. But the police budget was not the only concern of the community meeting…

Neighborhood residents who came together at the Westgate Recreation Center were upset over the city's closure of three other recreation centers on the west side. "With the closing of the rec centers, these young people are out doing things they shouldn't be doing," Leslie Perry, a cheerleading coach at the center said. "Now you're not giving them anything to do, and cutting our protection. It's a very bad situation."

Columbus voters will go the polls in August to decide whether to raise the city income tax from 2 percent to 2.5 percent. Police Chief Walter Distelzweig said the upcoming tax issue was not the primary reason for holding these community meetings. "Our whole premise for doing these interviews is to get the input from the public about their neighborhoods," Distelzweig said.

Residents on the west side are concerned about the arrival of summer and the prospect of young people on the street without a place to go for recreation. "We have some plans in the works that aren't finalized yet about curfew and some of those other safety initiatives," Distelzweig said. "It's going to look different than it did last year, but we will have some initiative for the summer."

The fourth and final community meeting will be held Wednesday on the south side at the Marion Franklin Recreation Center.