Does it really matter who is supposed to be in charge when a park overflows with trash and a pond rots in the middle of a neighborhood?
Councilmember Tommy Wells' office was inundated with complaints about Town Center Park East on 6th and I Street and shook some answers out of the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR). DPR immediately blamed the National Park Service (NPS) which turned the park over to the city recently. DPR complains that NPS "did not coordinate the maintenance or provide instructions on care for the pond and water features." So? Is that an excuse to just give up and do nothing. DPR has egg on its face for this misstep. So DPR finally cut the grass and collected the trash last week. They needed instructions to do that? Now they are "reaching out" to NPS for instructions for pond maintenance. Is this DPR's first ever pond? Would they just have let it go all summer? Or is a neighborhood with construction just not a priority?
You can read the report on Councilmember Wells' site here.
Photo from www.tommywells.org. The pond in the park. Just scratch your screen for a sniff of it.
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5 comments:
f-ing ridiculous. i live right across from that pond. thank you for staying on top of this story.
I guess the former DPR director, Clark Ray, was too busy authorizing that $75K pool heater to plan for the transfer of jurisdiction. Now he wants to be a Councilmember? Wonder if any of the Ward 4 parks where he and the Mayor lives are as neglected. Let's be sure to ask him when he comes to SW (the stepchild of DC)for our votes.
When I last looked at the park (yesterday, May 28), it was difficult to discern that: a) grass had been cut or b) trash had been removed. It looked like the same old trash and weeds to me. What is saddest is that the ducks who used to live at the bond have fled--because if you're a duck you prefer real water to green stagnant scum (no one has bothered to refill the pond, among other things).
Does anyone think that DPR, a D.C. agency, is really going to do something about the park? The same people who "landscape" D.C. schools? another example of the enormous D.C. taxes we pay with nothing to show for it.
Let's all make sure that Tommy Wells knows about the current situation of the park. He has shown that he is concerned and looking for answers and solutions.
BTW, just go to Councilmember Tommy Wells' website to comment or email either him or his staff or call. All the contact information is readily available there at
www.tommywells.org
Please post updates here on the condition of the park today and through the weekend. I will get some photos tomorrow.
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