Willow Glen Resident

News

Park maintenance is a casualty of budget cuts, fewer volunteers

By Eli Segall

With many of San Jose's parks covered in garbage and weeds, local volunteers are needed more than ever to help maintain the open space. But volunteers are fewer, and those who do help aren't donating enough time, according to city officials.

"At first people are really enthusiastic, but then it starts dwindling off," said Margaret Wagenet, director of Keep San Jose Beautiful and the city's lead volunteer coordinator. Park volunteers are instructed to call her at least once a month with updates on their activities, but Wagenet says she rarely hears from them.

"Sometimes I'm not sure if they've quit or not," she said.

The Municipal Rose Garden is one park feeling the effects of dwindling volunteerism. Park volunteers contributed more than 1,000 hours in both 2004 and 2005. Then, as maintenance staff was reduced and the park fell into an unattended state, community interest in volunteering at the park began to dwindle, said the park's former head gardener Mary Heidler. Volunteer hours have now dropped to almost zero, making the park's condition worse, she added.

"The drop-off in volunteer participation has significantly impacted the maintenance there," Heidler said.

To get more people engaged in San Jose parks, the San Jose Parks and Recreation Commission will meet on May 16 with the Santa Clara County Parks Commission to compare their park volunteer policies and find ways to maximize the city's volunteer base.

Since 1998, the city has added 110 acres of parkland, but at the same time the city did not add more maintenance workers because of budget cuts. In fact, during this same time period, 23 maintenance worker positions were eliminated.

The city is still struggling with a budget deficit that is projected through 2012, so there are no immediate plans to hire more maintenance crews, said Todd Capurso, deputy director of the park's department.

"If there's no money to do it, then I can't do it," Capurso said.

Thus, the city's nearly 175 parks are mowed twice a month; bathrooms are cleaned each morning and night, but not during the day; and litter and vandalism often sits untouched, Capurso said.

To fill the maintenance gap, Capurso cited the city's volunteer Adopt-A-Park program, where residents can "adopt" a section of a park as their own to clean for a year. But that, too, is understaffed. According to Wagenet, the program is run by a part-time worker who is also in college; in years past, three full-time employees ran Adopt-A-Park.

A new method of volunteerism may be on the horizon. Technology giant Adobe Systems has inquired into helping maintain McEnery Park, which is near its downtown San Jose headquarters. It would not be an official partnership between the city and Adobe, but Adobe would encourage employees on their own to volunteer time, Capurso said.

Meanwhile, regular volunteers can still rake leaves, pull weeds and plant flowers--and they can always stay a little longer than they planned.

"Volunteers often do one thing, like pick up litter, but we need people to do it all," Wagenet said.

To learn more about park volunteerism, call 408.793.4910 or visit www.sjadopta park. org.