San Jose city parks have a problem — there’s a huge backlog of needed repairs and insufficient funds to bring them up to standard. One councilmember may have a solution, but it’s going to take time.
District 5 Councilmember Peter Ortiz is proposing a 2026 ballot measure to fund park maintenance, and has requested the city manager schedule a study session for the City Council to review in January or February. This will give officials an opportunity to examine parks infrastructure needs and the poor condition of facilities in parts of the city, such as the East Side where Ortiz represents. Depending on the findings, it could lead to a citywide ballot measure and possible tax initiative.
“We have an obligation to make sure that it’s not up to somebody’s ZIP code or up to somebody’s income whether or not they have a clean, green and open space,” he told San José Spotlight. “This isn’t just about the ballot measure, it’s also about reviewing the funding, looking at the maintenance backlog, looking at current processes and practices within the (Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services) Department that may have resulted in some areas being impacted more than others.”
East San Jose residents gathered outside City Hall earlier this month to showcase images of their dilapidated parks and called on the city manager to explore funding avenues to fix the problems.
Ayanee Ramos recently founded the Dobern Neighborhood Association in part to rally for the city to dedicate more resources toward the parks that families and their children find inaccessible. She said blight, graffiti and crime have been ongoing problems in city parks.
“Our street has been neglected for so many years. We didn’t have patrols for around 10 years, have a lot of abandoned vehicles and gang impacts,” Ramos told San José Spotlight. “People were happy when we started this neighborhood association because a lot of people on the East Side feel we were just forgotten about.”
San Jose’s parks department has a more than $554 million infrastructure backlog, according to a 2024 city status report — with many East Side parks in disrepair. Most of the city’s parks budget comes from development fees, and advocates are calling for the city to diversify funding in what they said is an equity issue.
The city is working on solutions such as asset management, maintaining parks as they are and improving efficiency, but there’s no concrete solution for the 293 playgrounds and 212 parks that are part of an expected five-year capital budget of about $385 million for 2024-28.
A similar but more specific parks maintenance ballot measure was proposed for this election cycle before being shelved by city leaders earlier this year. Peter Hamilton, an assistant with the city manager’s office, said there wasn’t enough support from voters.
East Side resident Maria Reyes said homeless residents often block access for children and families to use the local Hillview Park.
It’s time for city leaders to take action on residents’ complaints, she said.
“Our children can play in the dirt covered sandbox, share a swing set with two swings with all the other children, try to have a snack on a filthy table or look through the cyclone fence at the locked gate with the park next to it that is empty and unusable,” Reyes told San José Spotlight. “On behalf of our neglected and abused children … I’m asking the city to take the responsibility and the action needed to correct this injustice for our children.”
Assistant City Manager Lee Wilcox described the study session request as straightforward, with city employees finishing an analysis for the city council to review at the start of next year.
“Staff has been very involved with Councilmember Ortiz and his team, and helping with some of the parks issues and where we want to go,” Wilcox said at the meeting. “We’ve started to try and figure out how we integrate this direction into the direction that was previously given (as the) first step into a 2026 ballot conversation.”
Contact Vicente Vera at [email protected] or follow @VicenteJVera on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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