Arvind Kumar and his husband Ashok Jethanandani spend their Saturday mornings pulling weeds and protecting plants native to California, but not in their yard at home. Instead, they’ve spent the last 20 years volunteering at Lake Cunningham Park in their East San Jose neighborhood — working to undo years of neglect and unsafe water.
For the last five years they’ve focused on stinkwort, a sticky, camphor-smelling invasive species native to southern Europe, northern Africa and southwestern Asia that is irritating to the touch. Now, their hard work restoring the park to its former glory is getting a boost thanks to $850,000 in federal funding from Congressmember Jimmy Panetta and the dedication of San Jose Councilmember Domingo Candelas. The money will be used to further the lake’s rehabilitation by funding flood prevention, water filtration and restoration of the water’s nutrients — which advocates said will improve equity in the historically disenfranchised part of the city.
Kumar, a trained software engineer and board member of environmental nonprofit California Native Plant Society’s local chapter, said the help from local legislators to revitalize the park has him feeling “on the moon.”