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Community gardeners urge city to preserve volunteer funds held in private accounts
Summary
Gardeners at multiple Palo Alto community gardens told the commission Sept. 23 they were recently told that funds held in garden bank accounts would be moved into city control; gardeners said the accounts pay for tools and occasional labor and asked the city to solicit garden input and delay any change until alternatives and safeguards are vetted.
Multiple community gardeners told the Parks and Recreation Commission on Sept. 23 they were recently informed that small funds collected by garden plots for people who opt not to volunteer would be moved to the city’s Parks and Recreation accounts.
Ishwar Subramanian, who said he gardens at a community plot in Elnor Park, told the commission the garden uses collected fees to buy tools and hire labor for difficult tasks. “We were notified that the funds that we have been collecting from people who opt not to volunteer to do the reading work, and instead pay a fee to an account, we were informed that those funds are now to be handed over to the city parks and recreation,” Subramanian said.
Gardeners described the funds as modest and focused on purchasing wheelbarrows, shovels and paying occasional labor to preserve the garden. “In the…
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