In light of the new funding, council members who voted to cut the programs last month changed their minds and voted to reinstate them.
Along with Mayor Pro Tem Wendy Leece and Councilwoman Katrina Foley, who were against cutting the programs, Mayor Allan Mansoor, and Councilmen Gary Monahan and Eric Bever voted to reinstate the concerts.
Mansoor and Bever also voted to reinstate Neighbors for Neighbors.
“The circumstances are different [than they were the first time around] and people have stepped up to support those items,” Mansoor said of his yes votes.
The approvals fell short of Leece’s and Foley’s full goals, though. The councilwomen wanted to see funding restored to TeWinkle Middle School’s after-school program, the city-run youth basketball and football programs, and others. Those programs’ budgets were partially cut.
The city also cut all funding for a van that brought games and sports to children in poor neighborhoods. The city also stopped contributing to high school grad nights and an exchange program that sends local students to Australia.
More than a dozen speakers encouraged the council to restore full funding to the programs, saying they prevented crime by keeping kids off the streets and created a sense of community.
Resident Shiloh Godshall said one child grew up in her neighborhood without parents. He lives with his grandmother, who works full time but can’t afford extracurricular activities.
Through the city’s free basketball and football programs, Godshall said, volunteer coaches have taken the boy places and served as good role models. Godshall said his grandmother cannot pay the $39 to $58 seasonal fee that the council approved.
Asked whether the boy might get in trouble without basketball, she said, “Absolutely, he will get in trouble.”
