Some jobs done best as labor of love, others by city employees
When volunteers
take over work that used to be done by government employees, it's
often controversial, especially when unions are involved. But for
certain jobs, it's actually better for community volunteers to do
the work, even if there's plenty of money to pay for it.
Case in point:
Mowing the grass,
pruning big trees and maintaining walkways and fountains in the
5.5-acre regional park west of downtown would be too much for
volunteers alone to do. But taking care of those 3,500
once-beautiful roses? That's a no-brainer.
Why? Because
caring for roses is a labor of love. Just ask the 150-plus
volunteers who turned out last weekend to help rescue the garden,
which is threatened with decertification by All-America Rose
Selections because it no longer meets national standards. Even if
On Tuesday night,
the San Jose City Council will look at ways to make it easier for
businesses, homeowner associations and volunteers to adopt parks and
do other work the city no longer can afford to do well. Some
proposals that raise the issue of prevailing wages for any hired
hands are understandably controversial, and we'll talk about them on
Tuesday's editorial page.
But simply making
it easier for volunteers to help out is part of a fundamental and
necessary shift from expecting government to do everything toward a
model of personal stewardship. Taking responsibility for parks and
other public facilities can empower residents and increase community
pride. The volunteers who already have worked to paint out graffiti,
plant trees or build playgrounds in
City management
has been moving this way over the past few years and now is actively
looking for more community partnerships. Putting them together and
recruiting and managing volunteers is hard work. It will require
more city investment in some areas, but the costs will be justified
as they leverage volunteer labor and build a more involved
community.
A comparison of
The historic
Municipal Rose Garden on
The difference is
volunteers.
The heritage
garden's nearly 5,000 bushes were planted and are maintained with
100 percent volunteer labor through the Friends of the
Years back, Perez
used to refer some volunteers to the municipal garden. But a few
years ago, the city told her to stop. It also turned away neighbors
who used to organize work days. City employees wanted to do it all.
And as the city budget shrank, so did the number of park maintenance
workers, and the roses faded.
City management's
attitude has clearly changed. Neighbors Beverly Rose Hopper and
Terry Reilly, who organized last weekend's Rose Garden pruning
party, expect to work with the city to establish an ongoing
volunteer group.