Fed up with broken sprinkers? Plugged up water fountains? Vandalized play equipment? Tired of hearing “We have no money.”
Now is the time to make a difference. It’s budget season when money is allocated for next year.
First step: Register for the Mayor’s Budget Prior setting session on Feb 20.
Register Here
Next, contact your councilmember.
Third, attend the budget meetings in your district. Write emails. Tell your neighbors to write or phone, too.
Here are a couple of informational pages that give background on the budget and the needs for parks. There are links to resources, too.
Advocates Handout Jan 19, 2016 Budget Process
Advocates Handout Fact Sheet Jan19, 2016
Let your council member know what you think. The hearing is Tuesday November 10, 2015 Item 5.2.
http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_29070996/jean-dresden-san-joses-shell-game-park-money
Jean Dresden: San Jose’s shell game with park money is wrong
By Jean DresdenSpecial to the Mercury News
POSTED: 11/04/2015 12:45:39 PM PST0 COMMENTS
UPDATED: 11/04/2015 03:34:15 PM PST
What’s a city to do when civic leaders express embarrassment at the number of homeless in downtown’s St. James Park?
San Jose proposes taking $9 million of park development money and using it to “activate” the park for the next 10 years.
A Knight Foundation grant paid for activities for the past two summers. Park staff suggests using the money for concerts, food trucks, family-friendly activities and more ranger hours — all to attract people other than transients to St. James Park. Others suggest using the money for housing or social workers.
The City Council will decide Tuesday.
There’s just one problem: The funding would come from an accounting sleight of hand that prevents the money from entering the Park Trust Fund.
The fund is a state-authorized method for park and trail acquisition, major rehab and major repairs near the housing developments contributing to the fund. Under the proposal, developers near St. James Park would pay a discounted Park Trust Fund fee and a “voluntary” amount to a different account that could be expended on anything, depending on a sitting council’s whim.
If all the money went to the Park Trust Fund, it would help complete four trails near enough to the St. James Park area to be eligible for the money. Progress on them has been stalled for lack of money after a decade of allowing developers to pay discounted park fees for downtown development, which the city wanted to stimulate.
San Jose’s Envision 2040 General Plan calls for a mode shift away from cars, and trails are a key component. The city’s Green Vision to reduce greenhouse gasses calls for 100 miles of trails by 2022, and only 56 miles have been built. Park Trust Fund fees are needed to acquire and construct these long-planned trails and match state and Federal grants.
In addition, other projects such as the long-planned Roosevelt gym depend on Park Trust Fund dollars from the St. James area. If these monies are diverted to activities, the publicly vetted and approved plans for parks are thwarted.
Little outreach has been done on this plan to divert Park Trust Fund money. There’s been no city outreach to the people who use and care about trails, nor to the residents of District 3 who won’t be seeing their promised projects anytime soon. The proposal specifics didn’t surface until last Friday.
Homeless activists vocally remind the city that the homeless are residents and have a right to be in St. James Park. And no one is talking about what to do about parks such as McLaughlin and Lone Bluff Park, where homeless encampments have recently sprung up — rangers, police and park maintenance staff don’t go there frequently.
Parks all over the city need more attention — not just downtown’s St. James Park. The city needs are greater than that. If activation and a higher level of maintenance is good for St. James Park, then it is good throughout the city.
Part of the park department staff proposal for St. James long term is establishing a park district to provide more flexible funding. San Jose needs to look at this citywide. The park department staff is recommending moving in this direction. This is the visionary solution to all of our park needs. Diverting Park Trust funds for St. James Park is a shortsighted band-aid.
Jean Dresden is the founder of San Jose Parks Advocates. She wrote this for this newspaper.
When we visit our San Jose Parks, we often focus on the beauty or the fun that the parks provide. Yet, San Jose City Parks also provide extraordinary economic benefit. The Trust for Public Land has been analyzing the economic impact of parks for many cities across the contract, including Denver, Seattle, and San Francisco. Now they are studying San Jose. Later this year, we expect a report to be released with dollar figures.
Here are the preliminary results:
Parks contribute to City revenues through property taxes:
- Increased annual San Jose property tax revenues/assessment attributed to proximity to a San Jose park.
Parks contribute to City revenues through property tourism:
- Increased annual San Jose tax revenues from park-related tourism: Lake Cunningham skateboard park, Kelley Park and Happy Hollow Zoo, Christmas in the Park, Rosegarden, Renaissance Fair at Confluence Point, and many more.
Parks contribute to the wealth of San Jose residents:
- Increased property sales value from property located within 500 feet of a park.
- Profits to businesses from park-related tourism.
Parks save San Jose residents money:
- Direct use value of park facilities, i.e. the amount residents would pay to use equivalent
- private facilities
- Health benefits from use of public parks.
The environmental benefits of parks save the City money:
- Annual reduction in San Jose stormwater management costs each year resulting from parkland.
- The role of parks in reducing San Jose air pollution cost each year.
- Reducing cooling costs by absorbing urban heat.
The final report will compare San Jose with other major cities. How will we compare? We have fewer parks than most cities. Are we getting all the economic benefit that we should from our current city Park system?
SPUR sponsored a review of the San Francisco results in January 2015. The San Francisco report gives background on the analytic method and serves as a good preview for San Jose’s report. Check it out: http://www.sfparksalliance.org/sites/default/files/SF%20EBR_TPL_SFPA.pdf
Ever experience the serendipity of discovering a tiny space in San Francisco–all covered with plants, or a bench and trees, or a small community garden? These eye-catching beauties are “spaces between places” and are part of the Street Park program. San Francisco’s Public Works Department partners with San Francisco Park Alliance to help individual stewards to create these great little places. Small pieces of public land–streets, medians, stairways, traffic circles, and bits of land are transformed and maintained by volunteer stewards.
Stewards use a template to work with the SF Parks Alliance and SF Public Works to create the public space that they wish to maintain. They hold a community meeting with nearby residents and collaborate with Public Works on their final plan. Since 2004, over 100 street parks have been built or underway. Check out the video showing some transformed sites at
http://www.sfparksalliance.org/our-work/stewardship/street-parks
Find more information about the San Francisco process on the San Francisco Public Works Street Parks website
San Jose has only a few neighborhood groups that care for a few circles and median strips for the Department of Transportation. Do you think San Jose should work towards a better Street Park system? Where would you put a San Jose street park?
Many times Community Groups and residents find grants to support the Parks and Recreation Programs that they love. Yet, some experience the City’s process for approval as a “black box” that acts as a barrier. In June 1014, San Jose Parks Advocates sat with three PRNS officials and outlined the process for partnering with the city on grants and grants applications. Large projects (over $270,000) requiring Council approval were not the focus of discussion. Read how your group can successfully partner with PRNS. [Download Here]
How San Jose Buys Parks
San Jose residents often ask, “How can our neighborhood get a park?” At present, there are three sources of new parks in San Jose—all depend on being near new housing developments. One method: a developer of new housing will provide land for a new park. Examples include many new parks in North San Jose. Alternatively, the City collects Park fees from developers of new housing. The fees go into the “Park Trust Fund” to be used only in the nearby neighborhoods of the new housing. Park Trust Fund money is also used for major “capital” repairs. Finally, the City can apply for grants. These grants have matching funds requirements that tap the Park Trust Fund. This means new parks are now limited to areas near new housing complexes. Established neighborhoods far from new housing have no source of funds. To learn more about the Park Trust Fund and how it works, click on Park Trust Fund FAQ.
The City of San Jose has other options for new parks that it is not currently using. Some of the choices include: bonds, general funds, parcel taxes, and special financing. San Jose voters are familiar with bond measures that built community centers and refurbished parks. The Arcadia Softball complex in Evergreen is the last bond project. General fund dollars paid for many of the parks in the City during the 1950s and 1960s: Willow Street and Kelley Parks are good examples. General fund money combined with Federal flood control and State Resources money to make Lake Cunningham Park. Family members donated the land that became downtown’s Pellier Park, which is awaiting reconstruction. The San Jose Financing Authority bought the two newer golf courses. (According to staff, these golf courses are not parks and don’t have the same legal protections as parks, but are managed by the Parks Department and look like parks to us, so we’ll fight to protect the land from sale to any developers!) Read more about financing in the Greenprint—the City’s master plan for parks. http://www.sanjoseca.gov/index.aspx?NID=3250
Other jurisdictions use a variety of sources to finance new parks. The City of San Jose could ask voters to approve these successful programs. Santa Clara County uses a Park Charter Fund to buy new parks. The County sets aside a portion of property tax revenue that always goes to parks. The Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority uses a parcel tax to fund its land acquisition. In other communities, special park districts are formed that operate separately from city finances. For example, Greater Vallejo Park District was unaffected by City of Vallejo’s bankruptcy. Voters created and funded parks separately.
What should the City of San Jose do? What financing method San Jose Park Advocates lobby for? Let us know. Join us in our drive for more parks for San Jose.
San Jose has a new proposal to divert $11M in Park Trust Fund fees to operations and maintenances of the three big downtown parks from long-planned land acquisitions, major improvements and necessary infrastructure renovations and repairs. With no public outreach, the proposal is scheduled for a December 2 hearing. This diversion is on top of $20M in prior discounts, depriving the downtown area residents of more than $30 M in park improvements and major repairs. There’s currently over $40M in backlog. Downtown area residents are expected to do without.
Read about the proposal and background in the staff memo here [Staff Memo]
Parks Commission’s letter of opposition here [Parks Commission Letter]
Commentary column from Mercury News here [Don’t divert money from Park Trust Fund]
by Helen Chapman
With all of the new worries we’ve had in San Jose in recent years…the police exodus, the rise in crime, the poor relationships between city employees and their bosses…it’s easy to lose sight of other “quality of life” issues that are really just as important. In fact, some of the issues that are getting left on the back burner, cold and unattended, are the reason so many people love San Jose and strive to make their home here, and we need to heat those issues up once again.
Someone asked me the other day – “We were promised a park in our neighborhood years ago, why is it taking so long to get a park built?” I wish there was an easy answer. As usual, it comes down to funding and priorities. The primary funding mechanism to build parks, trails and adding capital improvement to existing parks is from the Parkland Dedication Ordinance (PDO). The Ordinance requires developers of new residential sub-divisions to provide land or pay a parkland fee in lieu of land or do both, to acquire, develop or renovate neighborhood and community serving parks to serve the new residents of the sub division(s). The PDO was enacted by the City in 1988 and is consistent with the State’s Quimby Act. The fees paid in lieu of land dedication are deposited into the Park Trust Fund. Read More →
In The September District 10 Newsletter, Johnny Khamis has a nice quote about the value of parks.
“Another thing I appreciated about Copenhagen, is the increased community outreach in the planning of parks and other public destinations. This helps them achieve highly activated public spaces. I was especially impressed with the use of science and culture in the many parks that we visited. Parent-friendly playground equipment is used to keep parents and kids entertained and playing together. Park staff measure the use of parks before and after features are added to gauge the popularity of new features. Many parks have a specific theme and attract residents from other areas of the city. In many cases, activating a space has brought new life to neighborhoods and increased the values of the surrounding homes.”
If you missed the first ever Mayoral Forum on Parks issues you can watch the entire event at the below link. The San Jose Parks Advocates are grateful to the many community members who attended our forum on Monday, April 21. We are especially appreciative of Santa Clara County Open Space Authority, Committee for Green Foothills, San Jose Parks Foundation and the San Jose Stage Company for their help in putting on this great event.
Videos of Mayoral Forum
