Emma Prusch Farm Park in San Jose isn’t shutting down, despite anything you may have heard to the contrary.
On Friday morning, families were watching their kids bound around the new playground and its giant chicken structure. Goats were lounging next to the big red barn, Vietnamese potbelly pigs Rachel and Bluey were milling about their enclosure and various birds — roosters, peacocks and peahens — were strolling around the grounds like they own the place.
Of course, if you’d been reading posts on Next Door or Reddit about the park in recent days, you might have expected the gates to be shut and a giant sign posted out front saying “Big Development Coming Soon Here.”
The frenzy to protect Emma Prusch Farm Park — a 44-acre agricultural gem at the intersection of King and Story roads — began after supporters of the Prusch Farm Park Foundation posted that the city had served the foundation with an eviction notice to have all its property removed by Nov. 18. The post suggested this was being done in retaliation for the foundation’s inquiry a few months ago into funds it believed the city was improperly using for purposes other than the park, and it ended with a call to action to contact Mayor Matt Mahan and other city officials.
As this was reposted and shared to neighborhood groups via email, some jumped to the conclusion the city was closing the park. The original post never said that, but it wasn’t an unreasonable leap to make since the post did say the foundation had been a “guardian of the Farm” and partnered with the city since 1979.
The ensuing brouhaha prompted Jon Cicirelli, director of San Jose’s Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services department, to send a letter aiming to clarify the situation — including the fact that the Prusch Farm Park Foundation doesn’t operate the park. The foundation currently maintains Emma’s Kitchen Garden, a beautiful space that comprises just one-third of an acre inside the sprawling 44-acre park. It’s situated behind the park offices where it holds classes. Cicirelli’s letter also said the city hasn’t had an agreement with the foundation in more than a decade and recently decided to give up on a new one.
Most people don’t know — and there’s no reason they should — that in 2021, the city went through a process to find an operator for Emma Prusch Farm Park and selected Veggielution, the nonprofit that already had been running programs at its six-acre urban community farm at the park. Nearly all activities at the park, including a Halloween night trick-or-treat event, are run either by PRNS or Veggielution.
The foundation’s question about the park’s finances related to a gas station lease on the property shouldn’t be dismissed, however. When Emma Prusch gifted the land from her family’s dairy farm to the city in 1962, it was on the condition that it remain an agricultural park and that any revenue generated would go back into it. The PRNS letter says that’s been the case, but it should be easy to prove or disprove. In any event, the bad blood between the foundation and the city well predates that inquiry.
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It would be a shame to see Emma’s Kitchen Garden fall into disrepair or even to have the Prusch Farm Park Foundation ushered out after many years of organizing volunteers and activities at the park. The foundation helped keep the park in the public eye as San Jose grew up dramatically around it.
There’s a Parks and Recreation Commission meeting at City Hall at 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 6, and while this issue isn’t on the agenda, it would be strange for it not to come up during either public comment — which must be done in person — or one of the commission reports.
But the park is staying open. And if this scare has a silver lining, maybe it’ll be that more people will pay a visit to enjoy Emma’s farm.
VTA BUILDING COMMUNITY: You’ve heard about “transit-oriented development,” but how about “transit-oriented communities”? That’s what the VTA is working to build with grants to 14 Santa Clara County arts organizations and community events — ranging from $15,000 to $175,000 — that were announced this week.
VTA General Manager Carolyn Gonot said the idea behind “transit-oriented communities” is to make sure the agency is engaging the communities in what they want their cities to look like. Of course, the goal is to encourage the use of public transportation — but it helps to have things around transit stations that people want to go to.
“It’s the first time we’ve done something like this,” Gonot said at a presentation held at MACLA, the Latino/Chicano galley in downtown San Jose that was one of the grantees. “It is a key component in VTA’s broader mission to create — with our communities — accessible, mixed-use and mixed-income neighborhoods around our transit stations.”
In addition to MACLA, the grantees announced were Carry the Vision, Prosperity Lab, School of Arts and Culture at the Mexican Heritage Plaza, Palo Alto Forward, Palo Alto Transportation Management Association, Transform, Gilroy Arts Alliance, San Martin Neighborhood Association, Cinequest, Arts Mountain View and Friends of Levitt Pavilion, as well as the cities of San Jose and Santa Clara. You can read more about the grantees’ projects at www.vta.org.
HONOR ROLL: The East Side Education Foundation is inducting another class into the Thomas P. Ryan Hall of Fame, consisting of stellar graduates from San Jose’s East Side Union High School District.
The members of this year’s class — which was to be honored Saturday night at an induction dinner at Hayes Mansion — are Bridgette Y. Loriaux Bauer (Independence High), Domingo Candelas (Evergreen Valley High), Ginelyn Doldolea-Kudsi (Oak Grove High), Maria Garcia (Independence High), Paul Kilkenny (Silver Creek High), Peter Khooshabeh (Santa Teresa), Mitsu Kumagai (James Lick), Peter Ortiz (Independence), Andres Quintero (Mt. Pleasant), Nicole Simpson (Overfelt) and Jeneba Young (Mt. Pleasant).
They’re all worthy of recognition, but it’s notable that this year’s list includes two San Jose City Councilmembers — Candelas and Ortiz — and a community champion in Mitsu Kumagai, who graduated from James Lick in 1957 and went on to a long career at the Santa Clara County Office of Education before retiring and putting more of his energies into the arts and the Japantown community. Read more about the hall of fame at eastside-fund.org.
WHAT’S THE EMOJI FOR FRUSTRATED?: Every time I think we might be getting a break from COVID-19, it pops up again. San Jose Playhouse’s Scott Guggenheim announced that cast members from its new production of “Emojiland” tested positive for the virus, prompting the cancellation of shows planned for Oct. 31-Nov. 3. The show, which has gotten some nice reviews, is expected to return to 3Below Theaters on Nov. 7 and run through Nov. 24. Go to 3belowtheaters.com for tickets.
