SF Parks Alliance Collapse Leaves Residents and Community Groups Scrambling for Answers – And Money

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KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 11 June 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The San Francisco Parks Alliance has shut down after revelations that it misspent at least $3.8 million. The organization raised money for the city’s parks and open spaces as well as serving as an umbrella organization for about 80 community groups that managed public parks and projects. Now the Parks Alliance has gone broke and many of those organizations are left stranded with their cash reserves wiped out. Public officials are calling for investigations into where millions of dollars went that should have been spent on parks. We’ll talk about what went wrong, what’s at stake for the city’s outdoor areas, and what could happen next. Guests: Joe Eskenazi, managing editor and columnist, Mission Local Michael Barba, reporter covering government accountability and public safety, San Francisco Chronicle Ildiko Polony, executive director, Sutro Stewards Nicola Miner, donor, San Francisco Parks Alliance Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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1:11.5	The San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal, and what a mess.
1:15.4	The San Francisco Parks Alliance has shut down after running out of money.
1:18.6	It may have misspent more than $3.8 million.
1:22.8	The organization had raised money for the city's green spaces, and it served as an umbrella organization for about 80 community groups that managed public parks and projects.
1:29.8	Now, many of those organizations are left stranded and with their cash reserves wiped out.
1:35.6	What happened?
1:37.6	We'll dive in and try to figure out what can be salvaged.
1:39.9	It's all coming up next right after this news.
2:00.4	Welcome to Forum. I'm Alexis Madrigal.
2:19.3	You know something has gone horribly wrong when the chair of your board describes your non-profits financial situation as a, quote, dumpster fire in an email to a donor. But that's what happened to the San Francisco Parks Alliance. That's how bad it had gotten. The fallout from the fire is going to reach across a web of community groups that were just trying to do something good for their local parks.
2:24.1	The questions are now turning to the obvious things. Did someone abscond with the money that was
2:28.8	supposed to be in the Parks Alliance bank account? Was it just bad accounting and mismanagement?
2:36.3	Was it something stranger and worse?
2:40.8	Joining us to break it all down first, we've got two local journalists. Joe Escanazi's managing editor and columnist at Mission Local. Welcome, Joe. Oh, thanks for having me. And we've got Michael
	...

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