Tamara Aparton, a parks spokesperson, said the department operates transparently, with oversight from its commission, the Controller’s Office and the Board of Supervisors.
“We welcome public inquiry and are happy to share all relevant information — much of which is already available through a simple legislative or public document search,” she told KQED in an email.
This isn’t the first time the Parks Alliance, which operates independently from the parks department but is closely linked to it, has been mired in controversy. In 2020, Mohammed Nuru, the city’s former chief of public works, funneled nearly $1 million in donations from various city contractors into a Parks Alliance account that he used as his personal slush fund. Two years later, Nuru was convicted of fraud and sentenced to seven years in federal prison.
In 2021, the Board of Supervisors issued a subpoena to obtain financial transactions between the Alliance and the parks department, after Supervisor Connie Chan raised concerns that the nonprofit’s donations were unduly influencing the department to invest in certain neighborhoods over others.
The Alliance did not respond to KQED’s request for comment.
The most recent revelations about the organization follow a series of scandals involving multiple city-funded nonprofits accused of misusing city funds or unfairly awarding grants based on personal connections.
Fielder, who represents much of the Mission District and Bernal Heights, said she also hoped the audit would scrutinize some of projects the parks department is currently pursuing, including a waiver its general manager and the mayor recently secured to fundraise $12.5 million for the redevelopment of Sue Bierman Park in the city’s wealthy Financial District.
“In my district, at the Mission Recreation Center, there is at least one drinking fountain that is inoperable due to its lead levels,” she said. “It’s not something that would be accepted in other parts of San Francisco that are just better resourced.”
It’s this kind of disparity that Fielder hopes the audit will address.
“While the Mission Rec Center has a defunct drinking fountain, a whole downtown park is getting an entire renovation,” she said. “I just want, in this audit, to ensure that our city’s public resources are equitably allocated to San Franciscans across the city, not just the ones who live downtown or in traditionally well-served neighborhoods.”
