san francisco parks alliance corruption
Chan blasted the agreement, saying it perpetuates inequity by creating another paid attraction in a public park. We have put forward actionable recommendations to correct loopholes that seemingly normalize unethical practices that undermine faith in public actions.. The supervisor and the organization have clashed before. If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us. City Attorney Dennis Herrera issued subpoenas investigating those same city contractors in February, in connection with the ongoing corruption scandal that first ensnared Nuru, but has only grown in the following months. At the time, U.S. Attorney David Anderson commented on the allegations by saying, "corruption is pouring into San Francisco from around the world." . No Parks Alliance officials have been implicated in the probe. But they're also rife with opportunity for abuse, the report found. ", While the city's Recreation and Park Commission approved a use permit in December 2019 between the Parks Alliance and SF Rec and Parks for Golden Gate Park's 150th celebration, "there wasn't a draft agreement at that time," Brousseau said, "or an agreement that we felt should have been put into place.". A city controller report last year called out the connection between the Parks Alliance and the park department after discovering Nurus $1 million slush fund. Supervisors delayed voting Thursday on three city agreements to accept and spend more than $7 million from the Parks Alliance until Chans questions are answered. Sign up for NBC Bay Areas Housing Deconstructed newsletter. "San Francisco ranks No. Also, notably, this is the first-ever use of a new subpoena power the board crafted for itself in 2020, in a law written by Supervisor Aaron Peskin. Sobrepena could not give an immediate answer but said she could come back with that information. Get the latest posts delivered right to your inbox. Chan asked her if she had any information that Rec. In San Francisco, that goes double for nonprofits that call themselves "friends.". The Parks Alliance is a major philanthropic backer for the parks and other city departments. The latest subpoenas also reflect the ongoing probe into the city's dealings with two businesses run by city contractor Florence Kong, who was charged by the U.S. Attorney's Office in early June with lying to investigators about gifts she allegedly gave to Nuru. The risk here is that when city contractors or building permit applicants or holders donate to non-city organizations, it can create a pay-to-play relationship, or the appearance of one. The lack of transparency in the deal to bring the Ferris wheel to Golden Gate Park exposed the growing corruption by the Park managers and the Mayor with private contractors. . Opinions are those of the contributors and are not Nuru would solicit those funds from contractors whose city contracts Nuru oversaw. The nonprofit San Francisco Parks Alliance directed $66,000 to entities whose figureheads were arrested by the FBI in connection with disgraced former Public Works director Mohammed Nuru's corruption scandal, a new report has found. The City Attorney and District Attorney have failed to investigate and prosecute the privatizer's funding of Park and Recreation Director Phil Ginsberg and his managers. and Park. Those city contractors include the SF Clean City Coalition, Recology, PG&E, Clark Construction, Webcor Construction and Pankow Construction. That is correct, Sobrepena said. The Historic Preservation Commission is expected to vote on whether to extend the contract through 2025 at its next meeting on March 3. and Park, the expenses and transactions with those subaccounts dating back five fiscal years and identifying the funding sources for the subaccounts. Stay up to date! Musical Helps Lafayette Bounce Back After COVID, Richmond Review Crossword Puzzle #12, May, 2023, (Spiral): Solution, Richmond Review Crossword Puzzle #12, May, 2023 (Spiral), Designer, Builder Creates Comfortable Works of Public Art, https://richmondsf.salsalabs.org/froghop2023/index.html. A memorandum of understanding between the city and the Parks Alliance lays down some requirements for how they operate, and was retooled to strengthen some reporting requirements in 2020 in the wake of the citywide corruption scandal, but the Budget and Legislative Analyst still recommended it be strengthened. While City Administrator Naomi Kelly has not yet been named in any of the subpoenas, her husband, SF Public Utilities Commission General Manager Harlan Kelly, has, per the Chronicle. They say they are awaiting a complete review by the City Controllers office of the data turned over so far to determine next steps. "These so-called 'friends' groups don't have an entirely friendly history. A memo from the park department sent Thursday to the report author said staff appreciate the need for transparency and already follow the city controllers guidance on accepting grants and gifts. Drew Becher, CEO of the San Francisco Parks Alliance, expressed shock at the city's findings. Fallout from the arrest of former SF Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru on allegations leading to a federal charge of wire fraud after he was caught up in a wide criminal corruption investigation by the FBI has put the SF Parks Alliance in the spotlight after revelations that it was among the friends of type of non-profits involved in moving money around for Nurus department. The Controller's Office found at least one of these organizations, the San Francisco Parks Alliance, took roughly $1 million in donations from a number of city contractors which were under investigation by the City Attorney's Office for funneling money to the Public Works department for lavish parties, at the behest of former Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru, who was arrested by the FBI in January on corruption charges. As approved in 2000 by the public, $150,000 is allocated annually for a period of thirty years toward community gardens. Haney argued this also showed a clear need for his ballot measure Proposition B in San Francisco, which would create an oversight body for Public Works, and place some of its street maintenance duties with a new Department of Sanitation and Streets. The lack of transparency may also allow the Parks Alliance to circumvent good government practices developed by the city, the Budget and Legislative Analyst wrote, including compliance with prevailing wage requirements for contractors and competitive bidding to find lower costs. These sweet heart deals without any competitive bidding or public hearings is part and parcel of the corruption of City officials who run SF City Hall. and Park Department as well and I also have yet to receive that information.. Copyright 2023 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. Although the wheel was eventually able to open in the fall at limited capacity, a surge in cases halted operations after just five weeks. As a discussion by city officials around whether to keep a 150-foot tall Ferris wheel at San Francisco's Golden Gate Park continues to go in circles, two city supervisors on Tuesday called for an investigation into the San Francisco Parks Alliance the nonprofit group that oversees the Ferris wheel's contract. They report on how this privatization is taking place and the threat this is to public access and the need to stop the transfer of the park into a commercial profit center for developers with non-union workers and a lack of health and safety protection. City department heads will now be required to reveal when they solicit donations to nonprofits like the "friends of" organizations and for city departments to formalize their relationships with these nonprofits, which would legally require those groups to boast greater transparency. is the city's financial engine and it is sputtering. needs these 5 sites to thrive so the city can recover. The city's corruption scandal investigation is ongoing. Of the $720,000 that (SF) Parks Alliance paid to vendors, more than half went to just five vendors. SF supervisor subpoenas parks nonprofit in wake of report that calls for stronger controls, S.F. The Parks Alliance, a major non-profit dedicated to bettering the citys parks, became ensnared in the citys ongoing corruption scandal involving Public Works. and Park Department.. The Historic Preservation Commission is expected to vote on whether to extend the contract through 2025 at its next meeting on March 3. San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera on Wednesday announced that his office issued eight new subpoenas as part of the corruption investigation in the wake of the criminal charges filed . Our track record is clear. In a statement, Recreation and Parks officials denied wrongdoing. Chan then called on the Committee to issue a subpoena to the SF Parks Alliance for more information, including the number of subaccounts they have with Rec. This program looks at the "non-profits" that are being used to facilitate the transfer of public lands at the park to privatizers. The net encircling former Public Works director Mohammed Nuru has now ensnared more entities in The City's ever-growing corruption scandal. One of the subpoenas, sent to the citys custodian of records in early May, for instance, is seeking any and all "invitations, posters, fliers, announcements and programs" pertaining to any "holiday party, picnic, breakfast, award or recognition ceremony" for the City Administrators Office or Public Works over the last 10 years. While it's gotten a lot of love for its glowing lights at night, the contract to build it wasn't issued competitively, Brousseau said. The recent report recommended the park department establish a new conservatory agreement, report the budget for the anniversary celebration, and require the Parks Alliance to competitively select contractors and prohibit picking those who have a personal relationship or who have donated to the department or the organization. Nuru and others would direct staff to pay for goods and services for staff appreciation, volunteer programs, merchandise, community support and events from specific vendors, "circumventing city purchasing controls," the report found. The nonprofit San Francisco Parks Alliance is being scrutinized again in the wake of the city's corruption investigation, and a supervisor who's criticized the group in the past now wants to look more closely at its operations. No budget was presented to the commission providing the details of what would be spent before the agreement got commission approval, Brousseau said. A total of 10 subpoenas . The City controls the contracts and we follow the terms of the contracts, so there is a lot of information that came out that is really a City issue. This report has validated our suspicion all along that Parks Alliance has a problematic relationship with our city departments, she said. The audit found the alliance took in $44 million overall, $3.5 million of which was donated anonymously, so about 8% of the money they rake in is donated anonymously. Chan is exploring every legislative tool possible to implement recommendations. The audit says those contracts need to adhere to basic city contract standards to prevent conflicts of interest. Those nonprofits have looser transparency requirements, creating a "pay-to-play" environment where city department heads could potentially ask city contractors they oversee to donate to the nonprofit, creating a risk that department head would be influenced by that spending when deciding to award multi-million-dollar city contracts. SF Parks Alliance is the only city-wide parks nonprofit in San Francisco. But the board says more transparency is necessary to ensure another type of green money isn't changing hands improperly. The Parks Alliance, a major non-profit dedicated to bettering the city's parks, became ensnared in the city's ongoing corruption scandal involving Public Works. Peskin worries that the Crab Fest event could allow for an end run around city ethics rules that otherwise restrict direct contributions to city officials by firms doing business with the city. It's the breakdown of the sources of the money siphoned into the funds Nuru controlled at the Parks Alliance. People thought that what they're donating to is a scholarship fund, she said, but the money instead allowed Parks Alliance to create a slush-fund account to allow the executive staff of the Recreation and Parks Department to use and tap into those funds for whatever it is, at their leisure.. Separately, Chan has challenged a deal the city struck that guaranteed the alliance not the city -- proceeds from a five year deal to operate the 150th Golden Gate Park anniversary Ferris wheel. The letter goes on to spell out that Recology can do this by making a donation to the department's "fiscal sponsor," the non-profit SF Parks Alliance. Despite the progress, the audit found there remains a lack of adequate controls on the contracts the Alliance makes to provide services for the city. Nuru recently pleaded guilty to wire fraud and is awaiting sentencing. While the Parks Alliance raises money to build park infrastructure across the city in a private-public partnership, it's usually primarily interested in one type of green planting trees, for instance. They collectively donated $966,000 to the Parks Alliance into a Public Works-specific account funds Nuru was able to freely direct, and sometimes himself was paid from according to the report. 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