The cancellation of the free movies in the park series may just be the tip of the iceberg of the financial problems of the SF Parks Alliance, and Sup. Shamann Walton is calling for hearings into why the group doesn’t seem to have money it should have.

We should start here by pointing out that the SF Recreation and Parks Department and the SF Parks Alliance are two different groups, despite having very similar names. SF Rec and Parks is a city department that manages SF’s public parks. The SF Parks Alliance is a nonprofit that organizes free movie nights in the parks, playground renovations, or giant Ferris wheels in parks.

And the SF Parks Alliance is able to take private donations that Rec & Parks, as an official city department, cannot legally collect themselves. Thus, the SF Parks Alliance also collects donations and grants for some 80 or so smaller neighborhood or “Friends of So-and-So Park” groups, helps these groups raise funds, and then “stores” their money like a bank so they don’t have to apply for nonprofit status themselves.

This all sounded like a noble arrangement, until the whole Mohammed Nuru scandal showed that Nuru was using the Parks Alliance as something of a slush fund for staff parties, merch, and shwag. That all blew over with Nuru now in prison, but new questions arose about the SF Parks Alliance after they laid off about two-thirds of their staff within the last six months, and their director abruptly stepped down.

On a related note, the Parks Alliance canceled this summer’s free outdoor movie series, seemingly because of budget issues.

It seemed like there might be something not-entirely-on-the-level going on with this. A late April Chronicle report found that when the Buena Vista Neighborhood Association asked to access the $100,000 they had in the alliance's accounts, newly installed Parks Alliance CEO Robert Ogilvie told them, "I would appreciate the time to do some more fundraising."

Fast forward to yesterday, when the Chronicle reported Supervisor Shamann Walton called for hearings into the SF Parks Alliance at Thursday’s SF Board of Supervisors meeting. Walton even went to far as to allege the Parks Alliance may have “siphoned off” funds of some of its partner groups.

“The Parks Alliance, whose long-term executive director recently left, has been slow in being forthright with these organizations, city agencies and the public,” Walton at Tuesday's meeting. “So it is time to use this board’s powers of inquiry, including, if necessary, our subpoena powers.”

Sure, every city department or related organization is facing tough times as the city confronts an $800 million-plus budget deficit. And in their defense, the Parks Alliance said to the Chronicle they have one particular outstanding debt that has not been paid (they did not elaborate).

But Walton seems determined to go through the organization’s finances with a fine-tooth comb. And for the SF Parks Alliance, that process does not sound like it will be a walk in the park.

Related: Amid Layoffs and Leadership Change, SF Parks Alliance Appears Under Financial Strain [SFist]

Image: @SFParksAlliance via Twitter