Guest post by David Kosub

On March 12, 2019, President Trump signed a bill on a federal lands package that may have direct implications for activities in the Lamond-Riggs neighborhood. The bill (S. 47), entitled the “John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act,” sets forth “various programs, projects, activities, and studies for the management and conservation of natural resources on federal lands.”

According to a press release after Senate passage from Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), who sponsored one of the bills in the package, the legislation clarifies that “the District of Columbia and the National Park Service (NPS) have the authority to enter into cooperative management agreements (CMAs) to maintain and operate NPS properties in the District.” The release quotes Holmes-Norton saying the bill would “allow D.C. to work with NPS to maintain and improve the many NPS-owned parks here in the nation’s capital.”

Franklin Park, one of the many NPS-owned parks in the District, is now on track to proceed more easily with a public-private partnership for  its planned rehabilitation now that the bill is law. A case study in real-time (Read more here).  

This is very interesting and exciting news to me, and it should also be for my Lamond-Riggs neighbors. There are many items on our wish-list for safety and recreational improvements  to the national parks around us—Fort Circle Park and Fort Totten Park. Let’s use this new authority to help address our interests too!

Top of mind is a long requested lit, paved, safe path across the portion of Fort Circle Park leading to North Michigan Park from the Fort Totten Metro station. Neighbors regularly share personal experiences related to safety and ease-of-access on this  informal trail connecting Gallatin Street NE and Galloway Street NE. Last summer, the NPS-proposed permeable 10-foot wide trail received final approvals, but all that was lacking was funding.

Residents in the Fort Totten neighborhood have also expressed concerns related to safety using the trail on the other side of Fort Circle Park west of the metro station, which will become part of the Metropolitan Branch Trail very soon. The primary concern revolves around personal safety, especially at night, because of burnt out lights that have not been replaced. However, despite having this issue raised at countless ANC and other neighborhood meetings, DC officials and Metro police have voiced their own concerns related to working collaboratively with NPS in the past. Our neighbors should not feel scared to use this public asset when simply attempting to walk to and from the metro.

On the lighter side of life, these national parks in our backyard are underutilized for more leisurely pursuits. As a nine-year-old resident in Riggs Park wrote in a 2016 petition, additional resources for amenities in Fort Circle Park, like a paved trail and playground, would afford us a “place to get together, exercise, and for us to play and ride.” Nearly 240 neighbors agreed with him that an enhanced trail is desired, would complement the forthcoming Children’s Museum, as well as allow the “children and adults a safe place to walk, jog, or bike ride.” Moreover, I’m still open to the idea of Fort Drum Circle too, perhaps coming this spring or summer. And, did I hear someone say dog park? All in all, it would be great to see city investment here to help improve these public lands for recreational and historical purposes, while balancing that with conserving the precious green space we’ve all come to enjoy.

I recognize much still needs to be done to see these, and other, wish-list items come to fruition.  It takes a village after all, naturally working together in a strategic, rational, civil, and non-conspiratorial manner. Perhaps as a start, we could get a representative from the Franklin Park project to speak at a neighborhood meeting about their best practices and lessons learned, which we can then apply to receive city funding to directly revamp our park. Maybe we can engage our local small businesses, neighborhood developers, UDC Backus friends, and the Main Street organization to help sponsor more projects that can activate these public resources. Encourage our youth to speak with elected officials again as Fort Circle Park Ambassadors? Or, a neighborhood yappy hour with our four-legged friends is in order? Let’s hear your ideas too!