Comments on The difference between DPR and NPS: responsiveness - Greater Greater Washington

Comment by John Cloud

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 12:24:16 EDT

It is interesting that DPR's Derek Schulz' long list of DPR fields and natural and artificial turf installations and all that new DPR progress fails to mention the Anti-Erosion Project in Kalorama Park in Ward One. The centerpiece of that project,the so-called "Playing Field" to be constructed on the site of a former asphalt court, has been "under construction" now for over two years, yet still lacks turf and is still fenced off from the public. DPR made a show of "firing" (Aguirre's word)the first primary contractor, C & E Services of DC, Inc., and brought in a second contractor, whose excavations of terraces belatedly added to the project disclosed several feet of illegal construction spoils on the site, including plastic garbage bags filled with-- who knows? Now the "Playing Field" project appears to have been abandoned, along with the long ramp of stones made down over park lawns to allow the hundreds of trips by heavy machinery, and also the so-called "bioswales" which have become unvegetated scars on what had been verdant lawns in the park. Please ask DPR's Schulz or other DPR spokespeople to comment on the state of the "fields" of Kalorama Park.. Better yet, visit the park yourselves and see what a scandalous mess DPR has walked away from.

Comment by dcvoterboy

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 09:24:09 EDT

@J Church: pretty much all of them. when DPR published the proposed new fees even Thomas (who had oversight of DPR at the time) objected to the proposed fees.

DPR also has a long history of receiving a never-ending request of waivers from Councilmembers and even the Mayor's office for any kind of group or organization. I've seen recent complaints that DPR is finally saying no to these requests (I saw something here on GGW or DCist about someone complaining that their Councilmember couldn't get their fees waived). But remember, every fee waived is revenue lost and another field or park that doesn't get mowed or trash picked up or a wall painted.

Compare DPR fees to other jurisdictions and DPR is a bargain. Private schools and other area parks and recreation departments charge $100's per HOUR to use artificial turf fields or indoor pools or lanes; DPR is substantially less and has been for years.

It costs a LOT of money to keep all of these parks, pools, courts, and centers is good shape, but nobody on the Council has been willing in recent years to be the advocate for DPR that we all really need and do the hard job of finding the money to maintain and operate all these great fields and facilities we've built over the last 10 years.

Maybe Councilmember Wells will finally be the District-wide DPR advocate we've all been waiting for instead of just trying to get more projects for his ward...

Comment by Richard Layman

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 17:40:09 EDT

Many years ago, the Baltimore Sun did an investigation that started with anonymous filing of service requests for problems in various Baltimore parks. Then they monitored the status of the request. Most were never addressed after a 3-4 month period.

Comment by Jazzy

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 14:11:12 EDT

Saying that, now, the key difference between the two agencies is responsiveness (it seems like you're peeved that NPS does not hop right to some transit request you have) seems superficial.

Give Derek the choice - where would he rather work NPS or DPR? Hmmm.... I wonder. There's just no comparison in terms of training and support. NPS has professionals. They have a vision. But I agree, they are not that responsive. But to what effect is all this wonderful DPR responsiveness?

NPS makes solid and sound decisions - if you want to talk about transit, I wish you would have done so in a completely different post. Derek is talking about watering. David is talking about cars. Apples/oranges.

NPS has a vision and a sense of history and aesthetics. Not to mention infrastructure and sound management. Cut them down all you want in drive-by blog postings and comments. They will still be standing.

Having said all that, I am quite sure that Derek is very good at his job and means well and wishes things were different. Maybe there are even a few others like him.

I will even say that I am sure that good employees like Derek (I really don't know, but I hope so!) lack a LOT of support, not only from their own agency, but also from the community in which the parks sit. It's not easy for them.

But again, until there is vision and effective solid leadership at the top, DPR employees will be relegated to responding to the likes of you and me. On blogs.

Sad.

Comment by J Church

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 13:53:10 EDT

@dcvoterboy which specific councilmen? Tommy's my ward rep, and I think I'll have a talk with him about this now that this is his purview.

We have the worst of all worlds, high maintenance and capital costs and a relatively low income tax base. Obviously kids leagues shouldn't be paying too much to use them (although a lot of kids sports leagues are major income producers for adults), but if you charged adults what it would cost to resead/resod a ball field for a year and the kids costs were just nominal, we would have world class facilities. Similarly the schools spend all this money on fields, and have no way to recoup the investment to maintain them. Why not charge adults and put the fees into annual painting and restriping?

Heck, for a year round standing permit, I'd sod and maintain a field myself.

Comment by Richard Layman

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 13:43:10 EDT

calling up in response to a blog entry is a step in the right direction, but hardly worth heralding. What is worth heralding is changes in how the agency works, creation and execution of a master plan, etc.

NPS is problematic sure, but lately I am more empathetic about their position. Given that all of their overseers are based here, they have a lot less flexibility to act than park installations farther away from DC--everything they do in DC is subject to hyper-scrutiny. Plus, they don't have the necessary budget to manage the facilities. (Not to mention the other problems.)

FWIW, I've responded to various emails from the Mayor's office about parks issues and made the point there is no parks master plan and have never rec'd a substantive response.

So don't fall into the Kwame Brown trap of believing that how OPM/DRES/DGS maintains City Hall is standard operating procedure for how DC Govt. manages its properties, etc.

Comment by Ward 1 Guy

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 13:26:10 EDT

I wonder if any of this is the result of NPS staff wearing crazy hats.

Comment by Jasper

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 13:12:36 EDT

I'm just trying to imagine a NPS twitter feed:

@nps Resurfaced #gwmp eliminating pedestrian crossings for better traffic flow and pedestrian safety
@nps Cut down Prometheus #grba
@nps Chased dancers out of #thje #nacc
@nps Hunting grizzly in #yell after visitor was murdered
@nps Tased pedicab near #wamo for obstruction of traffic #nacc
@nps Dug through new lava to rebuild Chain of Craters rd after new eruption of Kilauea #havo
@nps Fenced off park near #dchd for pedestrian safety and increased traffic flow #dc50
@nps Completed connection on HI-31 #hale
@nps @wmata Please close Smithsonian Metro Station for pedestrian safety during inauguration of #mlkm #nacc

Comment by Ledroit Resident

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 13:06:51 EDT

Verty glad to see the responsiveness - DPR should be commended for that. However, this doesn't really address the concern about lack of maintainence for standard parks, focusing almost exclusively on rec centers and athletic fields. I hope that maintenance of parks, such as the new Park at Ledroit will be taken into consideration and I hope that if DPR shows commitment on this front that councilmembers will demostrate equal commitment by priotizing funds for such maintenance activities.

Comment by dcvoterboy

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 12:30:40 EDT

DPR has tried a number of times to increase fees over the last several years, even once getting as far as publishing a new schedule of fees in the D.C. Register for comment.

However the DC Council continues to stand in the way of letting DPR increase fees to generate the revenue they need to maintain all their stuff.

Comment by Michael

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 12:28:15 EDT

NPS is federal. Local politicians have no direct influence on NPS budgets and no way to hold NPS accountable. In DC we don't even have a real federal representative in the House or Senate. NPS does not have to respond to local concerns because locals don't control NPS. On the other hand DPR must respond to citizens and media or the Mayor or Council will jump in. Just that threat of intervention is enough to keep DPR on its toes when it comes to communication. The cultural differences between NPS and DPR are vast.

NPS is generally staffed by hard working experienced government employees who also know how to work the system and avoid the hassle of dealing with the public.

Its not just that NPS does a poor job communicating in the region its that they have no incentive to change. The lack of communication means they often make decisions with little or no input and that's not a good way to make the best decisions.

Comment by J Church

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 12:25:16 EDT

I find the DPR permitting process unnecessarily cumbersome and low tech. It's geared towards highly organized leagues, which is fine, but it ignores smaller less organized, ad-hoc groups that still could be and should be paying a fee. There are tons of unused field hours, but no way to search for and complete a "last minute" field reservation.

Furthermore, the balkanization between DCPS and DPR application and permitting creates further confusion for people trying to find a field. There's also not an easy way to tell when a field is available unless you physically drive by and see the field open.

After the league field assignments are completed (Pee wee football, waka kickball, etc.), there needs to be a web based schedule with available field openings for rent via a credit card over the web. Maybe it requires an account set up by a DC resident (One could scan and upload a copy of one's drivers license which matches the CC used for payment).

Consider this situation. It's Saturday afternoon and you and your friends decide they want to put together a football or soccer game for Sunday. How would one go about finding available space, reserving it, and then paying for it? This needs to happen via the web.

Sorting out the resident/non-resident permitting fees is a waste of time. Get the money flowing in so that you can have the budget to maintain the fields.

Comment by Steve D

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 12:14:45 EDT

Encouraging stuff from DPR, for sure. I'd love to go on a tour of some DPR facilities, and especially, learn more about how they prioritize maintenance and care of their existing assets. That was would be englightening.