Public Spaces
Talk DC parks with the Park Service on Saturday
Do you have thoughts about how your local federally-controlled park could be better? Have you tried to organize any activities and run into a bureaucratic brick wall? Or does your park just not serve the needs of your community?
Photo by emilydickinsonridesabmx on Flickr.
Chances are, if you live in DC, your local park is run by the National Park Service. It's an agency that makes few efforts to reach out to local communities, but there's a great opportunity this Saturday October 22, 1:30-3:00 pm at One Judiciary Square (441 4th Street, NW).
Eleanor Holmes Norton's office is organizing the event. Unfortunately, it's happening on a weekend when I'm out of town, and scheduled without much lead time for people to plan to attend. But it would be terrific to have many people from across DC share their experiences from working with NPS and their desires for how to better use DC parks to create a livable city, from the large ones like Rock Creek, the Mall, and Anacostia to the small neighborhood circles and squares.
If few people attend, NPS or Norton's staff might erroneously conclude that there aren't many resident issues or requests about parks. That's not the case, but we can best demonstrate that fact by having a lot of folks attend.
If your suggestions or frustrations are with the DC Department of Parks and Recreation instead of NPS, you have an upcoming chance to voice them as well. Tommy Wells is holding an oversight roundtable on DPR, specifically its summer programs, but it's a good opportunity to bring up your concerns to Wells and DPR officials.
That event is Tuesday, October 25, 11 am to 3 pm in Room 412 of the Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Ave, NW. To sign up to testify, email Tawanna Shuford at tshuford@dccouncil.us or 202-727-8204.
Are you planning to go to either? Post about what you plan to discuss in the comments.
 | David Alpert is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Greater Greater Washington and Greater Greater Education. He worked as a Product Manager for Google for six years and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He loves the area which is, in many ways, greater than those others, and wants to see it become even greater.   |
Comments
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by Washington DC Evangelists on Oct 20, 2011 4:00 pm • link • report
Will you be at the open forum to express this concern?
by Sam on Oct 20, 2011 4:34 pm • link • report
by Washington DC Evangelists on Oct 20, 2011 4:52 pm • link • report
I love the way you 'brand' (sorry) your parks, I love the way you stick to great design principles. Please pass your wisdom along to the citizenry and to DPR.
Continue the great work. You have my support.
Your parks work.
by Jazzy on Oct 20, 2011 6:39 pm • link • report
by Lance on Oct 20, 2011 8:26 pm • link • report
by Rj on Oct 21, 2011 8:07 am • link • report
And, to put it kindly, they often treat local people who have the temerity to want to use these parks as nuisances. If you want to use Dupont Circle for any purpose, you better have a First Amendment reason to do so, such as a political protest or free exercise of religion. Otherwise, be prepared to jump through a hundred hoops and then be given the run-around.
The NPS handling of the little triangle park across from the Dupont Circle Metro stop was a clear indication that they don't give a damn about public safety or the people of our city. They refused to even consider safety considerations brought about by the addition of a Metro stop that adds 23,000 pedestrians to that corner every day, and it took threats from the Justice Department to even get their attention about impediments to people with disabilities. They act like people are here for parks, and not the other way around.
This meeting is well-timed. I hope it will be well-attended. Someone needs to focus the concentration of these bureaucrats, even if it takes a verbal slap upside their heads to do so.
by Mike S. on Oct 21, 2011 8:57 am • link • report
by Washington DC Evangelists on Oct 21, 2011 9:47 am • link • report
I am amazed. You really do work miracles. Because for once, I find myself agreeing with Lance. It is enormously obnoxious. In fact, it's very similar to having a telemarketer call you while you're in the middle of something.
It's certainly your right to do that, I'm not arguing against it. But it is annoying to a lot of people.
Trust me. I lived with two fundamentalists for a semester in college. I'm a Methodist. That wasn't "Christian" enough for them. Do you think my Jewish friends appreciated being berated whenever they came over?
Well they did not appreciate it. And none of them saw the light and converted. I was lucky, though. I saw cheap rent in off-campus housing and moved in with some atheists. They never tried to push their beliefs on me (though they did introduce me to "House, M.D.").
Sorry. Went off topic there for a while. Nutshell: Yes, preaching at people is obnoxious. But it's okay to do your thing in a public place. Just don't expect a hug from me.
by Matt Johnson on Oct 21, 2011 11:15 am • link • report
Yes, I hate being hounded by evangelists. However, my experience has been with 99% of them that I just say "No, thank you" and that's the end. Do we live in a society where we are appalled at the fact that someone wants to talk to us and that our own reply of "No, thank you" is too much to handle?
As long as it's mutually understood and respected (i.e. feel free to distribute your pamphlets but be respectful if people decline), I see absolutely no harm or reason why it should be "a private matter".
by Sam on Oct 21, 2011 11:29 am • link • report
People often wonder why people seem so self-centered these days. Well, it's odd. I feel pushed to be more self-centered because of all the attention grabbers.
Metro stations and parks seem to be the highlight for attention grabbers. When I walk into my metro station in the morning, I need to avoid two newspapers stuck in my direction to get in. When I get out, there's two more. And some lady screaming Good Moooooooooooooorning at everyone while handing out newspapers. If it's a bad day, there's also other people wanting my attention for their charity, church or political candidate.
Attention-grabbers come to metro stations and parks, because a lot of people move through metro stations and parks. But do they ever consider that those people might actually just be on their way somewhere, and not have their attention available?
No they don't. They are just there to get attention for what they think is important, utterly ignoring what I want (just get to work or go home).
So, next time I ignore someone in a metro station or park, please don't think I am rude. Yes you have the right to be there. But you don't have any right to assume that my attention is yours. You were rude to assume my attention is available for you. It is not.
I've also noted that most people who claim that their freedoms are valuable because others fought and died for them, are very correct. *Others* fought and died for their freedoms. Rarely is it the person making that claim (*). So, show some respect for those freedoms that *others* fought and died for.
(*) Except for that awesome Marine that harassed NYPD about their brutal behavior near the OWS demonstrators.
by Jasper on Oct 21, 2011 2:57 pm • link • report
But I'm disappointed there wasn't more notice about this meeting. I can't go.
by lou on Oct 21, 2011 3:14 pm • link • report
If all you have to say is "keep up the good work" I wonder if you're not bothered by NPS disallowing CaBi on the Mall or its other properties, banning bikes on the MVT and Clara Barton Parkway, pushing the Solar Decathlon off the Mall, resisting putting playgrounds on their property, not allowing dogs off leash at Lincoln Park, allowing invasive plants to kill trees in numerous locations, failure to respond to requests when compared to - oh, let's say - DPR, building fences in parks according to plans from 1929 that no longer make sense, cracking down on pedicabs, allowing the Carter G. Woodson home to fall into disrepair, holding up improvements at the intersection of Lynn and the Custis trail in Rosslyn, failure to address safety at the MVT crossing of the GW Parkway near Memorial Bridge, onerous permitting rules that make events like the World Cup showing at Dupont Circle difficult to carry out, kicking FC Barcelona out of the ellipse, not allowing the 3 golf courses in DC to be run as a public-private partnership due to inflexible concessions rules, limiting the width of the Rock Creek Park trail while simultaneously deciding not to close the Parkway during mid-day for recreation, spending money on roads instead of parks, hassling food trucks, or rejecting BikeDC's request to use the GW parkway. And that is just in the last year.
So if you are cool with each and every one of those items, then by all means show up and give them only a standing ovation. I plan to do otherwise.
by David C on Oct 21, 2011 3:32 pm • link • report
I am sorry you have "bad days", but maybe you should be talking to some of those "Church" people and find out what's up with this 'Good News' business, and why do they always seem happy about something.
by Washington DC Evangelists on Oct 21, 2011 3:59 pm • link • report
This made me laugh out loud. And then I thought, mental illness is nothing to laugh about.
I would like NPS to create an urban parks division, and turn over all parks but Mall & Rock Creek to this new urban division. Then this urban division can decide what is best for the residents of DC and DC neighborhood parks, and NPS can focus on screwing up big national parklands.
by greent on Oct 21, 2011 4:09 pm • link • report
Been there, done that. There is plenty of happiness without believing stories from some old fairy tale book. But little when my attention gets grabbed by people who don't care about me.
by Jasper on Oct 21, 2011 4:10 pm • link • report
Lets try to stick to the subject shall we and not get off on such tangents.
by Steph on Oct 21, 2011 11:46 pm • link • report
by David R. on Oct 22, 2011 1:19 am • link • report
I've started cataloging a list of frustrations with how inadequate the local NPS trails are relative to their use, and could have used an opportunity to share that with NPS. Beyond mere inconveniences (but important ones in a heavily touristed city) like missing signs and poor drainage, I've had a few life-threatening near-misses in the past few months.
by Payton on Oct 25, 2011 12:37 am • link • report
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