Spokesperson Tamara Aparton pointed out the department was the only one to complete a memorandum of understanding with an outside organization as mandated by the mayor last year. 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. The audit tracked the money going in and out of the Alliance over a five year period. 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. While philanthropic organizations provide tangible benefits to all of our residents, abuses in these relationships undermine the important role they play," said Controller Ben Rosenfield, in a statement. We are zooming in to really look at a very problematic relationship that a non-profit named San Francisco Parks Alliance has with our city departments, but specifically with our Recreation and Park Department, said District 1 Supervisor Connie Chan, who called for the hearing. 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. Speakers who discuss this are David Romano, Harry Parisner and Steve Hill. Of the $720,000 that (SF) Parks Alliance paid to vendors, more than half went to just five vendors. This isn't the first time the Parks Alliance has found itself under the microscope. This S.F. Chan explained that she thought it worthwhile to get this information in the hope of avoiding the possibility of continuing practices with the potential to encourage corruption. The net encircling former Public Works director Mohammed Nuru has now ensnared more entities in The City's ever-growing corruption scandal. 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. Stay in touch. Now after nearly a year, the wheel is scheduled to be removed at the end of March, but a proposal seeking to extend the wheel's stay for four more years in order to help SkyStar "offset financial hardship" has yet to be decided by the city's Historic Preservation Commission. 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. It also isn't the first time the Parks Alliance and Supervisor Chan have clashed in public. These purchases would then be reimbursed through Public Works accounts held by the Parks Alliance "outside of city purchasing rules." 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.". "In this case, are we now setting ourselves up for a two-tier parks system for those who can pay to play, literally, and for those who cannot afford access to our public space?". 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. Supervisor Matt Haney also plans to introduce legislation next week that will go further than the mayor's order, explicitly banning department heads from asking any person or party doing business with their department for donations, among other changes. Sign up for our daily newsletter. When they're working as they're supposed to, these "friends of" organizations may help put on an outdoor movie night for the public or help build park trails. 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. 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. Supervisor Chan has a point about potential conflicts of interest. . Yes, we can go back and look into it, talk to the controller about adding it to our Public Integrity Reviews, Sobrepena responded. But Supervisor Chan is not done with the Parks Alliance yet. 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. Parks Alliance threatens to pull funding for Richmond District playground, S.F.s deal for the Golden Gate Park Ferris wheel may be investigated amid neighborhood fight, Downtown S.F. Supervisor Chan was bullied by the Parks Alliance for calling for an audit of this corrupt agency which is privatizing Golden Gate Park. Feb. 23, 2021 SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) 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. Just last week, two city contractors pleaded guilty to bribing Nuru with the construction of his vacation home and a $36,000 gold Rolex watch in exchange for help in obtaining city contracts. As a result, city leaders have inspected departments relationships with philanthropic organizations. Copyright 2021 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Sign up for our daily newsletter. The San Francisco Parks Alliance has threatened to pull just over $2 million in funding for a playground in the city's Richmond District if the district's supervisor, Connie Chan, doesn . We are happy to invest in their learning and morale, which helps them deliver great services every single day, the department said in a statement. We will implement any additional common-sense policies that provide greater transparency and allow us to continue to support and improve San Franciscos parks and public spaces., Copyright 2023 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. The motion to issue the subpoena was passed by the Committee unanimously. and Park Department as well and I also have yet to receive that information.. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Call (415) 706-6428 for information about advertising online and in the printed versions of the Richmond Review and the Sunset Beacon newspapers. Now it looks like the feds are following up on this pattern and trying to see if there are more examples of city vendors possibly disguising bribes that benefited city employees as charitable gifts. I also wanted to say that, throughout this whole process, we are committed to being transparent. It's the breakdown of the sources of the money siphoned into the funds Nuru controlled at the Parks Alliance. These subaccounts really operated like a city account, she said, because invoices were directed and approved by Public Works employees and tracked by both Public Works and the Parks Alliance. 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. 20002023 San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center. Chan says she hopes to ask more about the cash flow for the non-profit at a hearing she will hold on Thursday. and Park Department, and I have identified that the subaccount practice is not appropriate and problematic, you have not asked for that information from Rec. This corruption of these officials is being covered up by the SF City Attorney and other officials. Your email address will not be published. It was one of more than 20 firms. That corrupt slush fund really just a minor piece of the wider public corruption scandal put a dark cloud over the Golden Gate Park's SkyStar Ferris wheel, because the Parks Alliance gets. needs these 5 sites to thrive so the city can recover. As approved in 2000 by the public, $150,000 is allocated annually for a period of thirty years toward community gardens. "These so-called 'friends' groups don't have an entirely friendly history. Im looking forward to the follow up. The Parks Alliance serves a unique role in this, raising money for some projects and selecting contractors, a role often served by government agencies. The Historic Preservation Commission is expected to vote on whether to extend the contract through 2025 at its next meeting on March 3. 2023 FOX Television Stations, High Stakes: Sports Betting in California, American children missing in Mexico: State Department 'aware of reports of 2 missing US citizens', TikTok CEO to tell Congress video-sharing app is safe, urge against ban, Man survives shark attack off Hawaiis Big Island, officials say, Woman lucky to be alive after 2 trees fall on her Oakland home, America's first-ever tornado forecast issued 75 years ago at Oklahoma's Tinker Air Force Base. . The San Francisco Parks Alliance has declined several interview requests from NBC Bay Area but said in a statement it was cooperating with investigators. 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. elsewhere. Money was deposited into the account by Recology executives as part of a bribery scheme and was allegedly used to fund lavish parties. This corruption is part and parcel of the sell off of Golden Gate Park. If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us. The parks department said in a statement that its integrity and transparencyis unimpeachable., We are proud of our conduct as public servants and our adherence to all city laws and ethical guidelines. 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. It was previously unclear how federal investigators knew about the tipoff Nuru was re-arrested and the complaint against him and Bovis made public in late January after he initially had likely entered into a cooperation agreement with the feds. That is why I am calling for an investigation focusing on this agreement and SF Parks Alliance practices," she said. Even so, Supervisor Aaron Peskin has joined Chan in questioning the ethical implications of shifting money from a scholarship fund to a separate pot controlled by parks officials. But they're also rife with opportunity for abuse, the report found. Since then, the organization has eliminated anonymous donations above $100, listed all donors on its public website and upgraded its customer management tools to collect and track all disclosure information, Bunim said. The new ferris wheel at Golden Gate Park. The money is used to renovate the city's treasured green spaces large and small for example, erecting a towering Ferris wheel in Golden Gate Park and laying down AstroTurf at Merced Heights Playground. A California man is forced to live in a country hes never known, Warriors lean into championship DNA, beat Kings behind sublime Curry, Your Privacy Choices (Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads). It was a sole-source selection, there's no competitive bidding by the department," Brousseau said. But critics say substantial sums ended up being spent elsewhere. "Instead of going directly to our city's general fund, the revenue generated from SkyStar is going to a non-profit that is still under FBI and public corruption investigations," said Chan, whose supervisorial district includes Golden Gate Park. In that span, the non-profit took in $44 million, including an estimated $3.5 million in anonymous donations, the audit concludes. The Parks Alliance has said it didnt know it was being used unscrupulously by city officials. 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. So, knowing that it actually does have a close relationship with the Rec. The probe stems from federal criminal charges . This arrangement ultimately created the opportunity for unethical steering of purchases to occur.. At the behest of Nuru, the Parks Alliance also directed $66,000 to entities whose figureheads were also arrested by the FBI in connection with Nuru's corruption scandal, permit expediter Walter Wong and Nick Bovis, the owner of Lefty O'Doul's. Now supervisors are looking to find out if there any other similar schemes. 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 citys public corruption scandal by managing an off-the-books contractor fund that Public Works officials tapped to pay for employee parties and swag for city workers. Tagged as: Audit Committee, Richmond District, Richmond Review, SF Board of Supervisors, Sunset Beacon, Sunset District. All rights reserved, Union Lawsuit Alleges Retaliation for Whistleblowing in SF City Hall Corruption Probe, Former San Francisco Public Works Head Pleads Guilty to Fraud Charge. Her businesses, Kwan Wo Ironworks and SFR Recovery, are among several businesses that do lots of business with the city including PG&E and Recology about which the feds are seeking a decade's worth of documents and correspondence. Call (415) 706-6428 for information about advertising online and in the printed versions of the Richmond Review and the Sunset Beacon newspapers. 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. In a statement, Recreation and Parks officials denied wrongdoing. 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. Abrupt closure of S.F. 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The Department of Public Health has been dragged into this apparently in connection with a facility that was built at 2401 Ingalls Street, just north of Candlestick Point, by Kong's construction-waste management firm SFR Recovery. The audit has confirmed a very problematic relationship between the San Francisco Parks Alliance and city departments, said city Supervisor Connie Chan about the findings of the review, particularly with the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department.. We are committed to working with the City so that we can continue to improve our parks and public spaces. She joined The San Francisco Chronicle in 2019 to report on business and has also written about wildfires, transportation and the coronavirus pandemic. 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. ", 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.". Last year, a report by the City Controller's Office into ongoing corruption within city departments revealed that departments like Public Works engaged in relationships with nonprofit organizations to encourage large donations by contractors seeking lucrative city contracts. 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. 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. Do you know when can we expect that information?. She said from July 2015 through January 2020, we found that Public Works paid eight contractors a total of $572 million through contract purchase orders or other voucher payments. San Francisco's Parks Alliance and Recreation and Park Department are both facing scrutiny from District 1 Supervisor Connie Chan about their use of donations, after subpoenaed records were made public in an NBC Bay Area news report. The nonprofit San Francisco Parks Alliance is being scrutinized again in the wake of the citys corruption investigation, and a supervisor whos criticized the group in the past now wants to look more closely at its operations. Without more detailed oversight, the audit found, this benefit of philanthropic support risks being overshadowed by the possibility of corruption.. She previously covered immigration and local news for the Albany Times Union and the Alabama state legislature for the Associated Press. A visibly mentally ill suspect, who just a month earlier had been jailed for a terrifying incident in which he entered the home of a disabled woman, was arrested again in August following another highly disturbing incident outside a school. The Parks Alliance is a major philanthropic backer for the parks and other city departments. Copyright 2023 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. Stay up to date! Photo: Keith Crook. SF supervisor subpoenas parks nonprofit in wake of report that calls for stronger controls, S.F. Jay C. Barmann is a fiction writer and web editor who's lived in San Francisco for 20+ years. has aided and abetted corruption within San Francisco government." In September 2020, in responding to the Board of Supervisors' hearing request on public corruption, the Controller's Office presented before the Government Audit and Oversight . She ordered a budget analysts office audit into the organization, which NBC Bay Area reports found $3.5 million in anonymous donations to the group, which is not proof of wrongdoing, but raises questions about potential conflicts of interest, according to the audit. The subpoenas request information related to any donations or payments the companies made to charities affiliated with Bovis, to the San Francisco Parks Alliance or the San Francisco Clean City . But that leaves some of their methodologies in the dark, the Budget and Legislative Analyst's report found. 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.. "Certainly, some of these groups are operating above board. Flower Moon, a lunar eclipse and a meteor shower unfold this week. Explosion of joy in Warriors' world comes with newfound respect for Kings, Political chaos has erupted in this Peninsula city over one issue: Housing, Beneath Michelin-starred restaurants success, landlord dispute is boiling. In an aerial view, the SkyStar Wheel in the Music Concourse carries riders at Golden Gate Park on June 14, 2021, in San Francisco. During this same period, these entities donated $966,000 to the Public Works subaccounts at the Parks Alliance, she elaborated. Chan blasted the agreement, saying it perpetuates inequity by creating another paid attraction in a public park. is the city's financial engine and it is sputtering. Former City Attorney Dennis Herrera first issued subpoenas investigating the Parks Alliance in early 2020, also in connection with the ongoing corruption scandal. Before that, she freelanced with a focus on the Yemeni diaspora while studying at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. A new report from the San Francisco City Controller's Office, in conjunction with the City Attorney's Office, skewers a system where city departments like Public Works form relationships with nonprofit organizations that raise philanthropic dollars for issues related to that department, saying it's rife with opportunity for corruption. We did not dive deeper with Rec. 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.". They said while the bulk of the money raised went for scholarships, about 20% of the crab feed proceeds went for Recreation and Parks operational costs, including girls baseball leagues, World Cup soccer viewings, training retreats and worker appreciation events. Other agreements lack prohibitions against conflicts of interest. The Parks Alliance said in a statement Monday that it appreciates the citys work to strengthen transparency and accountability between nonprofit organizations and the City of San Francisco. Along with many other nonprofit groups, we continue to work with city departments to meet or exceed these good government controls, the Alliance said. Federal investigators say the alliance maintained a $1 million off-the-books fund that then Public Works director Mohammed Nuru frequently tapped to pay for employee parties, events and swag. Parks Alliance spokesperson Juliana Bunim said in a statement Thursday that the group appreciates all ongoing efforts to strengthen transparency and collaboration between nonprofit organizations and the city of San Francisco.. Efforts to keep the wheel up received yet another setback during Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting, when both supervisors Aaron Peskin and Connie Chan called on the city controller and Budget Analyst's Office to conduct an investigation into the San Francisco Parks Alliance's contract with the city's Recreation and Parks Department, which allows profits generated by vendors like SkyStar to be directed to the San Francisco Parks Alliance. We did collect a lot of information from all the departments, including Rec. The development of the tennis courts went over $400,000 which the City has to pick up. and Park, but we only assessed Public Works subaccounts, Sobrepena responded. 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. 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. "This is a city of riches," she said during Thursday's committee hearing. The City Attorney's Office's simultaneous investigation has already revealed a relationship between former Public Works director Mohammed Nuru and local entrepreneur Nick Bovis, in which Bovis appears to have taken donations from his charity (Lefty O'Doul's Foundation for Kids), given by city contractors, and funneled them to cover DPW holiday parties. 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. We did not benefit in any way nor had any control over the donations that Nuru and Public Works solicited and directed to the sub-account, as the report states. We have complied with every rule in the book about this and will continue to, and welcome, frankly, any increased efforts at transparency, because that helps all of us, Sarah Madland responded, representing Rec. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. During a hearing Thursday, Supervisor Connie Chan issued a subpoena to the Parks Alliance to find out how many, if any, similar accounts the Recreation and Park Department has. 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. 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. Chan asked her if she had any information that Rec. 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. And that is precisely the sort of structure that allowed Mohammed Nuru to bilk a $1 million slush fund out of the Parks Alliance, as the City Controller discovered in September 2020. San Francisco's Board of Supervisors issued a subpoena Thursday to obtain financial records between a parks-supporting nonprofit, the San Francisco Parks Alliance, and the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department. The failure of any oversight of this growing waste and misuse of public funds and the privatization of the park is a growing issue. By clicking Sign Up, I confirmthat I have read and agreeto the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. Previously: Feds Charge Three More People Linked to Mohammed Nuru and City Hall Corruption Probe. The 33-page report follows sprawling investigations into corruption across the city. 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. Mallory Moench is a San Francisco City Hall reporter. This program looks at the "non-profits" that are being used to facilitate the transfer of public lands at the park to privatizers. 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. But this audit seems like the latest chapter of her ongoing feud with the Parks Alliance, wherein she alleges potential corruption, and the Alliance threatens to pull money out of projects in her district. One example investigators have given of the sort of transparent but still somewhat wink-wink emails and letters they're looking for is one from 2015 in which Public Works Deputy Director for Operations Larry Stringer wrote to Recology inviting them to a department picnic in McLaren Park and asking for the company's "support" in making the event a "success."
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