The Parks Alliance, now in financial crisis, has a long and sordid history

The San Francisco Parks Alliance, a private group that raises private money (allegedly) for improvements to city parks, is in something akin to financial free fall, as allegations emerge that the group badly mismanaged its money and used funds earmarked for other organizations to cover its own budget problems.

The Lurie Administration has cut the alliance off from city funding, and a lot of small community groups that are owed money are scrambling. The city attorney and the controller are investigating.

This should surprise nobody: The Parks Alliance for years has been linked to some very shady dealings, including with convicted felon Mohammed Nuru—and has worked with Recreation and Parks Director Phil Ginsburg on some very sleazy political operations, including an attempt to take revenge on a city supervisor for questioning the Parks Alliance’s finances.

In fact, the whole operation has from the start been about privatizing operations at city parks—an agenda Ginsburg has pursued with great zeal since he took on the job, in part through his close ties to the Parks Alliance.

Let’s start with the Ferris Wheel.

A company out of St. Louis called SkyStar Partners built the giant lighted ride in the park in 2020 as part of the celebration of the 150th anniversary of Golden Gate Park. It also happened to be during the early days of the Covid pandemic, and since it was an outdoor attraction, it offered something for families to do for fun, in relative safety.

Fair enough, if you like massive private carnival rides in a public park.

But the deal never brought the city a dime: All the money that came in was split between the vendor and the Parks Alliance. The alliance was supposed to be using that cash—$500,000—for the anniversary celebration.

But the Controller’s Office and the City Attorney’s Office found some serious problems with the Parks Alliance and its role in the pay-to-play scandals:

Mohammed Nuru and others would direct staff to procure goods and services for staff appreciation, volunteer programs, merchandise, community support, and events from specific vendors, circumventing city purchasing controls. These purchases would then be reimbursed through Public Works subaccounts held by the Parks Alliance, a non-city organization, again outside of city purchasing rules. Mr. Nuru solicited funds for these purchases from interested parties, including businesses that had contracts with the department or city building permits. The gifts, which were not accepted or disclosed by the City, create a perceived “pay-to-play” relationship.

Sup Connie Chan had serious concerns:

“Instead of going directly to our city’s general fund, the revenue generated from Skystar is going to a nonprofit that is still under FBI and public corruption investigations,” said Chan, whose district includes Golden Gate Park. “It raises the question of whether this is a good government practice and whether such practices contribute to the ‘pay-to-play’ culture among city agencies.

It gets worse.

After Chan raised what are at the very least legitimate questions for a public official to ask, the Park Alliance threatened to cancel money for a playground in Chan’s district.

At a public hearing, Sup. Shamman Walton read into the record a letter from the Parks Alliance that, he said, implied that if Chan didn’t back off, she would lose a community playground. What the alliance was doing was “100 percent a threat” that “should not be tolerated,” Walton said.

In that remarkable, heated hearing, Chan, Walton, and Sup. Aaron Peskin interrogated Ginsburg about the threat and his role in it:

Chan asked Ginsburg if he knew about the letter before it was sent.

Ginsburg hemmed and hawed and said that the Parks Alliance is a private organization with its own board.

Chan: “Did you know in advance that they were sending the letter?”

Ginsburg paused, then said “I know they were upset. I did not know they sent it until they sent it.”

Chan: “I do not think that is the truth. (Mayor Breed’s Chief of Staff) Sean Elsbernd mentioned that you knew about the letter.”

Peskin interrupted to say: “He’s lying. Phil Ginsburg is lying.”

More:

Peskin tried again: “Did you see the letter that (Parks Alliance Director) Drew Becher sent to Ms. Chan?”

Ginsburg: Long pause.

Then: “The answer is that I was certainly familiar that they were upset and their sentiment.”

Peskin: “I think that you just said yes.”

Ginsburg said that the Parks Alliance was worried that the allegations might hurt the group’s its ability to raise money.

Peskin said that Ginsburg was “deeply involved and inextricably linked to this nonprofit” and the behavior of the organization “is conduct unbecoming. … it is outrageous … the answer is to take responsibility.”

Walton wasn’t buying Ginsburg’s argument, either. He said: “I don’t believe that the Recreation and Parks Department had no role (in the letter). Director Ginsburg, it seems likely that you act on behalf of the Parks Alliance quite often and it’s inappropriate.”

Sup. Jackie Fielder has called for an audit of Rec-Park, which is long overdue. I wonder how much the director of Recreation and Parks knew about the financial problems at this private organization, which he had very close ties to. I wonder if anyone will ask.

Meanwhile, a lot of good small organizations (and the SF School District) are stuck with projects that they had been promised funding for that are now in limbo.

And Ginsburg is still on the job.