Saratoga News

Photograph by R. W. Bradford

Saratoga Youth Commissioners (from left) Laura Prolo, 16, Brian Luskey, 15, and Robin Gill, 15, take a tour of the Warner Hutton House.

City Council partially funds after-school youth program

Citizens are asked to provide half of funding

By Julie Mehta

In response to the complaints of teenagers who say there's not enough to do in Saratoga, the City Council has agreed to fund reopening the Warner Hutton House as a teen center and continuing the "Boneyard" program. But it has promised funds for only half the 1996-97 school year, or $8,450, challenging the community to show its support of these programs by contributing the balance of the $16,900 needed.

The council unanimously voted in favor of these youth programs July 3 after hearing from several youth commissioners and being presented with a petition in support signed by 150 students. The decision follows a joint meeting in May, when the youth commission asked the council to reinstate the after-school program for middle schoolers at the historic Warner Hutton House at no charge to participants.

The house, located near City Hall on Fruitvale Avenue, was first used for this program in 1992. At that time, students were charged a $65 flat fee for participation, according to recreation director Joan Pisani. By the 1994-95 school year, Pisani says, the charge was $2 an hour, and the program floundered because students started considering it a day care center. The City Council, strapped with budget constraints, decided to end the program at the end of that school year.

The center will now be absolutely free. It will be open to sixth- through eighth-graders for 15 hours per week during the 36-week school year. There will be a room with school supplies for doing homework, a living room to hang out in, a kitchen, recreational equipment, including a pool table, ping-pong table and video games and optional group activities.

"It's a place that's theirs. They can listen to their music, hang out, talk. It's like going to someone's house after school, but the parents aren't there," Pisani said.

She said that since some students like to play outside, there will always be two staff people on hand to monitor the activities.

On Saturday nights during the school year, the Warner Hutton House will become the site of the Boneyard. This event, which premiered in March, offers high school students a place to gather and see live bands.

City staffers estimate the cost for staff supervisors for the center and the Boneyard will be $8,500. The projected cost for games, equipment, and supplies comes to another $3,000. The remaining $5,400 is to help fund the $14,000 salary of a new part-time employee needed to help run the youth programs.

Meetings and classes held in the Warner Hutton House will continue, but it is expected that indoor private rentals will decrease as kids begin to use the building more heavily.

Pisani says the youth commission has already begun fundraising efforts to ensure that the afterschool and Boneyard programs can continue past next February. It has already applied for a Rotary Club grant, is planning a golf tournament and will write to parents in August, informing them about the programs and asking for donations.

Mayor Paul Jacobs, who introduced the idea of funding the programs for half a year to the council, said he is confident the community will come through.

"People think we're doing this just for teens," Jacobs said, "but the whole community benefits when there are places teenagers can go on Saturday nights in this city and have some organized activity, and we don't hear from the sheriff about teenagers getting into trouble because they have nothing else to do."