Budget cuts force park closings in Romulus, MI. Temporarily?

Budget cuts force park closings in Romulus, MI. Temporarily?

Budget cuts continue across America. It's happened again in another city. The parks and recreation department of Romulus, MI was forced to close the city parks.

Elmer Johnson park was just one of the many to close. At Elmer Johnson park you had baseball diamonds, basketball courts, volleyball courts, horseshoe pits, play structures, picnic pavilions with grills and an archery range. All of the people that used these facilities will either have to find somewhere else to go or just stop outdoors activities.

There is talk of having an outside contractor or community service workers maintain the parks but that proposal is being met with opposition from the city workers union. Talks are still ongoing and there is a small chance that the parks could open for the summer.


A lot of the problem can be related to the housing market. More vacant homes in neighborhoods means fewer taxes being paid into city funds. When cities are putting their budgets together, city services become a priority over recreation. The ones that suffer are the city residents that enjoy using the parks system.

These closures affect families that like to take their children to play outdoors or go for a picnic in the park. It also affects the baseball season. This includes the t-ball groups where kids first learn to play baseball. Little league teams lose fields to play on and may have to find other fields or shorten their schedules. You have men's baseball leagues as well as men's, women's and coed softball leagues.

Some parks offer basketball, volleyball and horseshoes. A majority of parks systems have spent time and money over the years to add walking trails to their parks to encourage more people to become physically fit.

Where are these people going to go to now?

Romulus, MI is just one of the many cities faced with budget cuts. Recreation should not be something that is taken lightly. We all need to get out and play. That's our release. It starts when you are a kid and it should never stop. Where can we find a solution?