The popular Emma Prusch Park in East San Jose is not shutting down despite social media posts insinuating its future is in trouble.
A recent dispute between the city, which runs the park, and its foundation led the public to believe it would close. The city has had issues with how the foundation was handling a third of an acre of land known as Emma's Kitchen Garden.
"Our concerns were about fundraising, communication, operational practices," said Amanda Rodriguez, who's part of the San Jose Department of Park, Recreation, and Neighborhood Services. "We were concerned we had not had an Agreement with the foundation for more than a decade."
Thousands of families flock to the 46-acre chicken playground and park each year. Many are drawn by the thought of feeding farm animals or playing on a giant chicken slide.
However, due to a lack of negotiation between the foundation and the city, the latter gave notice to volunteers to remove equipment by Nov. 18. This notice led to many posting on social media that the park was closing.
The Prusch Park Foundation said its relationship with the city had been good until recently. The foundation claims that funds from a gas station formerly housed on Emma's estate were expected to be deposited in a fund for the park, but that hundreds of thousands have gone unaccounted for.
Additionally, the foundation claims the city does not have the staff or resources to take over Emma's Kitchen Garden.
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"Our foundation has worked hard to honor Emma's wishes and the covenants contained in her will," the foundation told NBC Bay Area on Sunday. PRNS is eliminating birds and farm cats from the ecosystem by spraying weed killer during park hours while guests are walking their families and pets. We found this behavior unacceptable and complained about it. We feel that the eviction notice is tied to our voicing our concerns for the park."
The city said the park will remain open, and no scheduled public events will be impacted.
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"In the short term, our park staff will take over maintenance of the small garden at the park to make sure nothing goes to waste while we develop long-term plans," Rodriguez said.
