Photograph by Kathy De La Torre

Francis Baron, a seasonal park maintenance employee, paints over graffiti on a picnic table at Rinconada Park. Park Service officer Dave Gray is in the background.

New maintenance worker may help keep parks tidy

By Nathan R. Huff

Parks workers were busy painting over some minor graffiti at La Rinconada Park Feb. 15, but at least one neighbor of the small town park would like to see the workers return to fix a damaged bench and eroding trail. The park borders La Rinconada Country Club.

Gloria LeBlanc, an amateur naturalist whose bird list is available at the entrance to La Rinconada, says the park's few benches, picnic tables and signs bear graffiti, and have for a long time. She also says an asphalt path running along the park's ravine is deteriorating and, while a temporary fence was erected for public safety, the erosion continues.

While she's hesitant to blame the Parks Department, LeBlanc would like to see something done. "I understand the difficulty," LeBlanc said, adding that perhaps the town should consider hiring more maintenance personnel. "I just wonder if there's something we could be doing that would make more resources available to [the Parks Department.]"

Director of Parks John Iaquinto said it was true that the department had some backlog of projects, but it was handling them by priority. A collapsed bridge at La Rinconada, which LeBlanc was also vocal about repairing, is an example of a higher-priority project, Iaquinto said.

"Our first concern is the safety of park users, then the safety of the park," Iaquinto said. "Then we go to more aesthetic issues." Iaquinto said trail resurfacing was one of the lower priorities, so long as safety was not an issue.

"The money is there [to fix the La Rinconada trail]," Iaquinto continued. "But other areas on the Los Gatos Creek Trail are used a lot more and are more problematic right now."

Iaquinto said the town is also planning to hire at least one additional maintenance worker. The department currently has seven maintenance workers. Before the budget cuts in the early '90s there were 10 workers.

"We've got it pretty much under control," Iaquinto said, adding that the trail would hopefully be repaired by spring or summer.

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