TEMECULA -- A summer program that has allowed children to participate in free arts and crafts, sports, games and themed events at various parks in the city since 2001 is being revamped because of Temecula's budget crunch.

Herman Parker, director of the city's Community Services Department, said the program -- Summer Mobile Activities and Recreation in Temecula -- will be retooled as "Stay and Play," a change that will allow the city to provide many of the activities offered at multiple locations as part of the SMART program at one central location.

The program will still be free for all youths.

By consolidating the program at the Community Recreation Center, the department, which has had its salaries and wages budget cut by 11 percent, will save about $35,000.

"Last summer, we had very low participation in the SMART program," Parker said Monday. "Most of the SMART sites had very little attendance, if any. I can recall visiting Margarita Community Park and Temeku Hills Park and there were absolutely no kids participating in the program, just staff present."

The Vail Ranch Park was one of the more popular locations of the five sites staffed by the city for the last two years, but participation there topped out at only five or 10 kids a day, he said.

"Because the SMART program was a drop-in program, depending on when you arrived, there may be zero to 10 kids in attendance. However, the SMART program always required us to have a minimum of two staff members present to allow for breaks and proper supervision," he said.

The requirements meant that on any given summer weekday, the city was paying 10 people to essentially hang out at five city parks in case children showed up.

Stay and Play is being offered at one location with two staff members, he said.

The program, scheduled to kick off June 22, will operate between 8 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. during the week, giving children the opportunity to spend time with their peers, make new friends and play table games or billiards.

Between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., there will be scheduled activities such as games and arts and crafts.

Those activities, Parker said, will change weekly.

The new program is geared for youngsters old enough to play and enjoy the recreation center, 30875 Rancho Vista Road, without parental supervision.

When the SMART program was introduced in 2001, the city offered activities at seven sites.

In the last two years, the number dropped to five sites as participation declined.

Parker said he's not sure why the program has become less popular of late, as the competition for children's attention -- video games, movies and books -- hasn't changed much since 2001.

"I wish I had an answer for it," he said. "For the first three or four years, it was a very successful program."

The SMART was one of the programs tagged with an acronym, a hallmark of Supervisor Jeff Stone's time on the City Council.

At Stone's urging, the council set aside about $70,000 to start the program, which at the time he said he envisioned as an old-fashioned grass-roots recreation approach that would make games and activities available to young people at local parks on an informal basis

Call staff writer Aaron Claverie at 951-676-4315, ext. 2624.