Ready2Play DC DPR Master Plan

The District Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) is undertaking a 20-year master planning effort called Ready2Play DC. Information is available at https://ready2playdc.com. There you will find links to FAQs, surveys, and meeting information. Importantly, this effort is not just for DC/DPR-owned parks and centers. It will also address National Park Service (NPS) parkland, of which we have plenty in this community. The first priority in the planning process is the Statewide DC Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP). The SCORP project page states:

As part of this Master Plan process, DPR will be drafting and submitting a new Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP) to the National Park Service. This SCORP is a requirement of the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) Act. It is a 5-year planning document that sets high-level goals and a prioritizing framework (called the Open Project Selection Process) for how DC will select future projects to be submitted for LWCF matching grant dollars.

On the Ready2play site, you can also suggest parks for vacant or green spaces in the neighborhood or suggest improvements for existing rec centers and parks. share “big” ideas, and tag existing rec centers and parks that you love and share why.

Over the years, there have been efforts to get traction behind implementing elements of the neighborhood’s adopted area development plan related to green space in the neighborhood. In 2017, ANC 5A passed a resolution that I helped draft to preserve the green space in front of Food & Friends for neighborhood recreation. On this blog, I have catalogued efforts regarding the NPS parkland at South Dakota Avenue and Galloway Street NE (formally known as the Civil War Defenses of Washington; informally known as Fort Circle Park). I personally submitted comments during the Comprehensive Plan process and budget process to advocate for a two-phase approach for the NPS parkland, starting with a paved trail around the perimeter of the park and adding amenities from there. Ward 5 Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie included funding for an environmental impact assessement of a paved trail at Fort Circle Park in his budget request letter to the mayor before she submitted her budget to the council.

As a neighborhood, we can all bolster these efforts by submitting comments during the DPR master planning process noting that these efforts are all in alignment with the neighborhood’s area development plan. (Aside: Before anyone asks, I am not that concerned about dog parks because a dog park is part of the plan for the second phase of Art Place at Fort Totten). And you can also share whatever other comments you may have regarding recreation in the neighborhood or DC in general. Please take a moment to participate by adding your comments at the Ready2play site or participating in an upcoming community meeting.

Upcoming Ready2Play Meetings – Registration Required

Wednesday 7/15 12-1pm

Meeting link: https://dcnet.webex.com/dcnet/onstage/g.php?MTID=e9ed1346354db2246359d9fed10f757c7

Thursday 7/16 6-8pm

Meeting link: https://dcnet.webex.com/dcnet/onstage/g.php?MTID=e891809de900d82f9509a2c6b0039e7ea

Friday 7/17 12-1pm

Meeting link:
https://dcnet.webex.com/dcnet/onstage/g.php?MTID=e037eae21fbdae8fda53b24420e819681

New Riggs-LaSalle Recreation Center Playground

Earlier this week, I received an email from DPR stating the agency has awarded a design-build contract for a new playground at Riggs-LaSalle Recreation Center (501 Riggs Road NE) that will be located on the Nicholson Street NE side of the center. The existing playground was reopened to the community last year after being closed to the public for several years. During the time we were working to get the playground reopened, there were discussions about getting a new playground because there seemed to be a general consensus that the existing playground could be much better. Eventually funding became available for a new playground. There will be a community meeting scheduled in the upcoming weeks to review initial concept ideas and to gather community feedback on what residents would like in a new playground. Project scope, timeline, and community impacts will also be discussed. That is all of the information I have right now. I do not know if the idea is to supplement the existing playground with additional amenities or what. So stay tuned for information on when that meeting will be scheduled and start thinking about what you would like to see in a playground at Riggs-LaSalle Recreation Center.