The fledgling New Orleans Recreation Development Commission has vowed not only to improve opportunities for the city's children, but also to equalize the quality of programs and facilities across wealthy and poor neighborhoods.
The goal faces its first challenge as officials scramble to figure out a way to charge identical fees to every child who enrolls this summer in more than three dozen day camps organized by City Hall.
With registration set to open April 4 for 6,600 slots for children and teenagers, overhauling the established rate schedule -- a handful of camps are free, while others charge $10 to $325 per child -- could delay the May 23 start of camp, officials said.
Rejecting that option, they are investigating the possibility of reimbursing families whose upfront costs exceed a to-be-determined threshold.
I'm not sure what city they thought they were providing a "public" service for where they decided they could charge $325 per child. The article lays out an alternate plan under which there would be a citywide fee of $20 paid to a central account for reimbursing the "private partners". Seems like a semi-rational fix but, again, I wonder if we're unnecessarily complicating a process for the sake of giving the "private partners" a sense of ownership.
Update: Hey, is there a discount if your campsite is contaminated with lead?
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