Im looking forward to the follow up. Parks Alliance spokesperson Juliana Bunim said in a statement Thursday that the group appreciates "all ongoing efforts to strengthen transparency and collaboration between nonprofit. 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. 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. The development of the tennis courts went over $400,000 which the City has to pick up. That is correct, Sobrepena said. City attorney subpoenas PG&E, contractors, nonprofits in Nuru A new audit calls for greater controls over the San Francisco Parks Alliance, the major non-profit group named by federal prosecutors last year as helping to foster the city's public. and Park Department and Parks Alliance, it seems to me that General Manager, Phil Ginsburg, had decided to double down.. That is why I am calling for an investigation focusing on this agreement and SF Parks Alliance practices," she said. The Planning Department, Department of Public Health, and the City Administrator's Office have all been hit with subpoenas stemming from the sprawling federal investigation into corruption in San Francisco government. That meant it wasnt clear who donated dollars that ended up in city coffers. and Park Department.. 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. They have long operated in a largely unregulated behind-the-scenes capacity as power brokers controlling the purse strings to the pet projects of their donors," Peskin said. 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. Those same contractors were awarded more than $570 million in city contracts by the Public Works Department, according to the report. Stay up to date! The Parks Alliance has not been accused of or found to be involved in any wrongdoing as part of the investigation into the government corruption, said its Board Chair Liz Farrell. Without more detailed oversight, the audit found, this benefit of philanthropic support risks being overshadowed by the possibility of corruption.. Sign up for NBC Bay Areas Housing Deconstructed newsletter. in the wake of an ever-unfolding corruption scandal that has ensnared four city department heads since early 2020, a new subpoena power the board crafted for itself in 2020, first issued subpoenas investigating the Parks Alliance in early 2020, threatening to pull $2 million in funding for a Richmond District playground. 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. The report further alleged the San Francisco Parks Alliance accepted some $1 million in donations from contractors under investigation by the City Attorney's Office and the money was then funneled back to DPW to pay for lavish parties. Since then, multiple department heads and other figures have been embroiled in this, including Nuru's girlfriend, Sandra Zuniga, who serves as director of the Mayors Office of Neighborhood Services; and Tom Hui, the former head of the Department of Building Inspection who went on leave in March. SF City Attorney Subpoenas 8 Organizations As Public Corruption Parks Alliance Pushes Back On Accusations, Tells Supervisor - SFist It also isn't the first time the Parks Alliance and Supervisor Chan have clashed in public. Nuru recently pleaded guilty to wire fraud and is awaiting sentencing. The Parks Alliance, a major non-profit dedicated to bettering the citys parks, became ensnared in the citys ongoing corruption scandal involving Public Works. These funds were largely spent on staff appreciation and events that benefited City employees.. The closure of a growing number of spaces at the park for private corporate events is pushed by Mayor London Breed and the Park director who say they don't have enough money to fund the park. The park departments memo said, For the most part we welcome the recommendations in the report and many of them are generally in place through the (memorandum of understanding) or existing policy.. Breed's order also requires more transparency from city officers in accepting gifts. But recent revelations have demonstrated that the opaque nature of several organizations, including the SF Parks Alliance, has aided and abetted corruption within San Francisco government.". This is just confirming all of the suspicions that Ive had for a number of years.. Those undisclosed donations, the analysis found, raise questions about potential conflicts of interest. The analysis found that the problem of not knowing who contributed is that there is no way to determine if the contracts were being awarded ethically. Financial transaction records between the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department and the non-profit San Francisco Parks Alliance are now the focus of a subpoena, after a unanimous vote by the Government Audit and Oversight Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. 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. If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us. "We receive so much donations and so much money to renovate and improve our parks, and we can see those results. For a Richmond neighborhood playground, for instance, the $3 million budget was completely opaque, said Fred Brousseau, from the Budget and Legislative Analyst's office. Probe also leads to cancellation of $171,000 portable toilet contract with company tied to restaurateur Nick Bovis; more contracts are under review SAN FRANCISCO (Feb. 12, 2020) City Attorney Dennis Herrera announced today that he has issued eight subpoenas as part of a joint public corruption investigation with City Controller Ben Rosenfield. At a hearing last year, Lisa Bransten, director of partnerships for the parks department, said Parks Alliance backing certainly played a part in boosting job satisfaction to 86% among the staff. is the city's financial engine and it is sputtering. Until the COVID-19 pandemic, the Crab Fest had been a major affair in the city, drawing top city officials, community leaders and contractors, raising more than $100,000 annually for parks scholarships.. Another issue was anonymous donations, with up to $3 million from unnamed sources going to the Parks Alliance during the same time period the organization gave $1.9 million to the park department. This story has been updated to include a statement provided by the San Francisco Parks Alliance on Sept. 25. As a result, city leaders have inspected departments relationships with philanthropic organizations. and Park has a similar practice with subaccounts involving the SF Parks Alliance. The organizations employees havent been charged with any crimes, and the recent report found no evidence of wrongdoing, although the report author said the purpose wasnt to investigate corruption but the processes in place to minimize its possibility. Although last week the Recreation and Park Commission approved the contract with SkyStar to continue operating the Ferris wheel at the park for four more years, the Historic Preservation Commission has the final say around whether the wheel will stay up. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by the SF Bay Area IMC. Golden Gate Park officials and members of the Parks and Recreation commission are getting tickets worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Lands End Festival as a payoff for their take-over of large parts of the Park. investigation into public corruption has led to a new round of subpoenas. 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. The audit tracked the money going in and out of the Alliance over a five year period. City officials cannot work behind the scenes with City contractors to benefit their departments and use other entities to cloak those efforts.". Joe Kukura is an SFist staff asst. 9 of the 13 playgrounds are now completed, and the last 4 will be transformed by the end Stay up to date! The probe stems from federal criminal charges . Get the latest posts delivered right to your inbox. SF Board of Supervisors' Audit Committee to Subpoena Financial is a partnership between the San Francisco Recreation & Park Department and SF Parks Alliance to transform 13 of San Francisco's most timeworn playgrounds into dynamic hubs for creativity and family life. We are putting a stop to it, City Attorney Dennis Herrera said, in a statement. Garbage time: Recology was the major donor to Mohammed Nuru's nonprofit A report issued just this month from the San Francisco Budget and Legislative Analyst, an arm of the city tasked with researching questions posed by the Board of Supervisors, took a look at the Parks Alliance's financial relationship with SF Rec and Parks. The Parks Alliance is a major philanthropic backer for the parks and other city departments.