Make a Wish

Strapped cities solicit gifts

The recession has been tough on the small eastern Tennessee city of Athens (pop. 13,000). Industry is struggling, and unemployment has hit 14%. Local tax revenues have not kept pace with inflation, and city government has had to cut back. At the same time, though, new trees have been planted in city parks, and an exercise trail has been blazed through one of them. Six new WELCOME TO ATHENS signs, adorned with shrubbery, have been erected. Total cost: $11,300.

This may seem extravagant for a financially strapped town. However, all but a fraction was donated by local citizens and businesses, which picked the projects from a ten-page brochure as if they were selecting presents from an L.L. Bean catalogue. The printing bill for the presentation ran to $250, but even that cost was borne by donors, the city council members. Explains William Talley, city manager of Anaheim, Calif, which also publishes a catalogue for givers: "Cities can't ask the Federal Government for the money because it doesn't seem to be in that business any more, and the state government is balancing its budget on the backs of the cities. We're lucky if we can hold on to what money we do have."

In an effort to continue to provide such amenities as parks and playgrounds while struggling to maintain basic services like police and fire protection, communities from Baltimore to Oregon City, Ore., are now publishing wish lists of services and items they want but cannot afford. These municipal beggars are soliciting tax-deductible gifts, either in cash or in goods or services, from private-sector donors. In many cities, the lists are dominated by pleas for park and sports equipment. Others want typewriters and computers for city offices, film projectors and pianos for community centers.

Some city officials use Madison Avenue techniques to make their pitch. Last June, Baltimore splashed a list of 2,500 wishes across two newspaper pages. More than half have since been granted: city offices got duplicating machines, schools were fumigated, vans for transporting senior citizens were repainted, a four-story 19th century observatory was refurbished, and seats at Memorial Stadium were scrubbed clean. Estimated value of the goods and services: $10 million. "The response was truly gratifying," says Mayor William Donald Schaefer, "an inspiration to carry on through hard times." Detroit's gift catalogue has raised $300,000 for its parks and recreation facilities. In Phoenix, the city's wish list has led to the creation of three foundations to help out the parks budget. Says Wayne Korinek, assistant director of programs and administration in Phoenix's parks, recreation and library department: "Without additional funding sources some parks wouldn't be completed and lights or picnic facilities wouldn't be installed."

Lake Forest, Ill., an affluent Chicago suburb, put together a slick 16-page Gift Handbook (subtitle: A Tradition of Excellence Through Giving), which lists such unbudgeted items as a $30,000 artificial lake for the 18th green of the municipal golf course, a $2.5 million indoor pool and a $1.2 million indoor tennis facility. While these wishes still await their fulfillment, Lake Forest has received $104,000 in donations since the list came out in September, including trees for the city's parkways, landscaping for city hall, an exercise trail in a city park and an oak table for city council meetings.

While the private gifts generated by these local wish lists may ease budget aches, they do not solve the financial crunch. It is difficult to find donations to fill potholes or fix bridges. Admits Athens City Manager Marvin Bolinger: "We aren't going to have a street or a new sewer plant donated. The basic needs still need to be met. But this is just helping with the little extras that you'd like to have."

Still, many items on the wish lists are hardly luxuries. Oregon City is asking for a new fire engine ($120,000), an air-operated rescue tool to help fire fighters pry open mangled or burning automobiles ($7,000), a hydrocarbon meter to detect the presence of explosive gases ($1,200) and a string of 40 new light poles for Main Street ($18,000 each). In its catalogue, Anaheim says it needs money even to equip centers for senior citizens and the handicapped. Reaching higher than most, the city of Reno asks for an entire $5 million community center. That item appears in the catalogue under the heading Dreams. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.