Rose Garden Resident
News
Council moves to let residents volunteer in city's parks
By Stephen Baxter
Responding to residents eager to restore healthy grass and plants at city parks, the San Jose City Council decided to allow more volunteer work in parks.
The council directed its staff on Sept.25 to make an exception to union rules that would allow volunteers to work in city parks. The change would facilitate work by such organizations as Conservation Corps and Habitat for Humanity. Those groups had been volunteering time outside of city rules.
Some union leaders at the council meeting balked at the change.
Many leaders said they support volunteer work, but worry that corporate sponsors of parks could get special treatment on city land deals. Other labor officials said they feared untrained landscapers could hurt plants or themselves, and might relieve union workers of their jobs.
Responding to the jobs question, Councilman Pete Constant said there are volunteer police and school-teaching programs in San Jose that do not substitute for full-time positions.
"I'm confident we can find ways to make this work," Constant said.
Councilman Pierluigi Oliverio, who represents District 6, suggested a similar idea in May, when he wanted to hire an outside contractor to maintain the Municipal Rose Garden, which had fallen into disrepair.
He told council at the Sept. 25 meeting that the city should allow employees from such companies as Adobe and Cisco Systems to take an afternoon off to clean up the parks.
"We should be so lucky that the corporations should take the day off. I'd like to see that option out there," Oliverio said.
Hamid Razavi, a Rose Garden neighbor who lives near Cahill Park, is in favor of the extra help.
Razavi said he just wanted some green grass in the park he walks by every day.
"Plants are dying in the area, and the irrigation doesn't work," he told the council.
Razavi said parks department workers shut down the park for three weeks in summer to restore the grass, but two weeks later the irrigation system ran afoul. Half the park was a swamp, the other half dry, he said.
Parks officials said they maintain a list of residents who want to volunteer in parks. One resident suggested the city hire a full-time volunteer coordinator, and Councilman Sam Liccardo nodded in agreement. Liccardo represents downtown and part of North San Jose.
This summer, volunteers from the Almaden Valley Youth Soccer League partnered with city parks workers to returf T.J. Martin Park near Burchell Avenue in Almaden Valley.
At a special San Jose Parks Commission meeting held at the Almaden Community Center on Aug. 29, several commissioners spoke in favor of corporate partnerships to help maintain parks. Councilwoman Nancy Pyle, who represents Almaden and also attended the meeting, said there ought to be more signs in parks urging people not to litter.
"Some of the things I've seen make me want to run after people," Pyle said.
Mayor Chuck Reed said the city has 118 parks workers maintaining 1,023 acres of open space, and the structural budget deficit makes the future uncertain.
"It's clear that our parks need help," Reed said.
