parks department

Planning Underway for Upgrades to South Park at Potomac Yard

By Chris Teale
1/5

An under-utilized park south of Crystal City is in line for some major upgrades.

Across jurisdictional lines, the planning process for South Park at Potomac Yard near Four Mile Run is gathering steam, with a projected completion date of later this year. Arlington County and the City of Alexandria both own portions of the park, located between Potomac Avenue and U.S. Route 1, along Four Mile Run.

The park currently has a publicly accessible playground and a playground exclusively used by a daycare facility, planted shrub/perennial beds, walkways, a large grassy field and a steeply sloped grassy area.

A post on the county website explains the park’s unique history.

“The boundary line curvature represents the natural Four Mile Run channel before it was straightened and channelized by the Army Corps of Engineers after the 1972 Hurricane Agnes, which produced heavy rain and extensive flooding,” the post reads. “As a result, the Army Corps of Engineers straightened and channelized Four Mile Run and covered the stream’s natural banks with riprap. Unfortunately, this created a less than desirable condition for the stream’s ecology.”

And with money available in the county’s capital budget as well as a federal grant available to construct and improve connectivity to the Four Mile Run Trail, staff in the parks department are preparing to make improvements.

The first phase of construction is anticipated to begin early next year and link Route 1 to the Four Mile Run Trail. The second phase is slated to begin in 2022 for the remaining park elements.

Those remaining park elements will be decided through a civic engagement process led by county parks and recreation staff that began late last month with a community meeting at Gunston Middle School.

Three more meetings are scheduled — the next on March 29 at a location yet to be determined — with a view to residents helping determine the park’s design.

Attendees wrote down their desired park amenities at that first meeting, then the next meeting will bring further determination of park elements as well as staff soliciting potential park names.

But the park’s location and future is complicated by its location, and so the design will be guided in part by the Four Mile Run Restoration Master Plan and Design Guidelines.

“The Four Mile Run Restoration Master Plan and Design Guidelines provide a vision for in-stream and near-stream improvements,” said Bethany Heim, an associate planner at the county’s parks and recreation department. “The vision calls for public and private improvements to recognize Four Mile Run as an asset and, through design, make visual and physical connections to the water. The master plan also calls for innovative strategies to treat stormwater runoff that will improve the water quality.

“The South Park Master Plan will identify ways to connect people to the water, take advantage of view sheds, and improve the water quality of Four Mile Run.”

Alexandria, meanwhile, intends to improve its section of the site as part of the redevelopment of North Potomac Yard.

Dana Wedeles, acting principal planner in Alexandria’s department of recreation, parks and cultural activities, said she expects plenty of cooperation between the two jurisdictions on this project despite the differing timelines.

“We are working collaboratively to ensure that what is proposed through the Arlington process does not preclude complimentary future improvements to the Alexandria portion,” Wedeles said in an email. “We envision that the site will be used by both Arlington and Alexandria residents and, despite the two jurisdictions having different, timing of planning, design and implementation, we ultimately want to see one seamless improved open space.”

Major Stratford Park Upgrades Set for 2017

By ARLnow.com
1/2

(Updated at 3 p.m.) Arlington County is moving forward with construction plans for Stratford Park.

The 3.8 acre park, at 4321 Old Dominion Drive, is located next to the H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program building, which will later become a 1,000 seat middle school when H-B moves to Rosslyn in 2019.

The current park has picnic tables, a youth baseball/softball field (which has also been used by adult team sports), two lighted tennis courts, a rectangular field and a lighted basketball court.

The new park, which is in the final design stages and is expected to go out to bid in the first quarter of 2017, will include upgraded fields, courts, landscaping and site furnishings.

Among the planned changes: the new diamond field will be fenced in, with dugouts, batting cages and bleachers added.

While the fence around a soon-to-be-upgraded diamond field in Bluemont Park prompted a neighborhood outcry this fall, since largely resolved by removing portions of the fence, thus far there has been little public protest about the Stratford Park fence.

Arlington Dept. of Parks and Recreation spokeswoman Susan Kalish said the field’s primary purpose will be to host organized baseball and softball activities, though other uses will be allowed when the field is not otherwise being used.

“The approved plan does include fence around the diamond field, as the field will primarily be used for diamond sports (permit takes priority),” she told ARLnow.com, via email. “The fence entrances will always be open to allow people access to the area when the field is not in use.”

The parks department sent an email to residents who live near the park last month, updating them on the project’s progress. An excerpt of that email, detailing some of the changes, is below.

Construction of the park upgrades is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2017 and wrap up within the first three months of 2018. The overall design, management and construction budget is $1.7 million.

In early 2015, the County worked with the community to develop a  concept  plan for the site. The  concept plan is a tool to inform the County, APS and the community on how new school access routes and other changes to the school site within the park boundary could impact the plan for park improvements.  DPR worked closely with APS in order to coordinate pedestrian accessibility from the park to the school. In addition, a restroom facility will be provided at the school for park users. DPR may make some minor changes to the concept as final costs for the improvements are determined in order to ensure the project remains within budget.

The approved project scope includes replacing and bringing existing features to current standards and adding new amenities to the park. Below is a breakdown of each one.

Existing to be Replaced:

  • Tennis Courts
  • Basketball Court
  • Court Lighting
  • Diamond Field
  • Backstop
  • Players Benches
  • Parking
  • Fencing (split rail)
  • Stairs and Walkways
  • Seating
  • Trash Receptacles
  • Trees and Shrubs

New to the Park:

  • Drinking Fountain
  • Pedestrian Lighting
  • Dugouts
  • Batting Cages
  • Bleachers
  • Outfield Fence
  • Retaining Walls
  • 50/70 Intermediate (50/70) Diamond Field Layout with Irrigation
  • Additional Trash Receptacles and Seating
  • Picnic Area
  • Storm Water Management Facility
  • Additional Landscaping

Trump Supporter Cries Foul Over Arlington Parks Dept. Response to Request for Rally Permit

By ARLnow.com

Donald Trump for president sign(Updated at 7:10 p.m) Jack Posobiec, the Security and Special Projects Director for a group called Citizens for Trump, took to Twitter today to complain about Arlington County’s parks department.

The department, he said, told him he would not be able to hold a pro-Trump rally next month at Long Bridge Park.

While Posobiec implied that politics may have played a role (see below for more of his tweets), Arlington County Dept. of Parks and Recreation spokeswoman Susan Kalish said it was simply a matter of when he wanted to hold the event.

“The staff person he talked to said he was looking at Long Bridge Park for the inauguration,” Kalish said. “The park is closed on the 20th, but she said it was open on the 19th.”

Inauguration Day — Friday, Jan. 20 — is a county holiday and Parks and Recreation staffers have the day off.

“Our outdoor parks are open during their normal hours” on holidays, Kalish clarified, but “generally we don’t allow rentals on holidays as the staff that would support/monitor the facility are off.”

Following his phone call to the county on Monday, Posobiec has not yet followed up to file a permit application for another day, according to Kalish.

“He never submitted a formal request,” Kalish said. “We tried to call him back today but his voice mailbox was full. We reached back to [him] to contact us so we can see if space is available at the time and location he is interested in.”

“We can’t deny a permit for something we don’t have an permit application for,” she added.

Should Citizens for Trump successfully apply for a facility rental, an hourly rental fee would apply, as it does for any other person or group. The group may also need a Special Event Permit, Kalish told ARLnow.com.

“After we see what he needs we will try to accommodate it,” she said. “This sounds like a special event, and thus will also require a Special Event Permit. There is no cost for the Special Event Permit, however, this application helps us share the event information with all our County services (trash, public safety, street closures) so that we can better support the event organizer with his needs.”

Responding to an earlier request for comment, Posobiec said the parks department’s account of his call was “incorrect.”

“When I heard there was no way to apply for a permit on the 20th, it was I who suggested holding it on the 19th,” he told ARLnow.com in an email just before 7 p.m. “They asked what sort of event it was, and I told them it was a small rally of about 50 people to support the president. She then immediately told me that those types of events would not be allowed. I asked to speak with the director, but was only allowed to leave a message. Call was not returned.”

Posobiec said the event he wants to hold would be dubbed a “Rally to Support the President,” would take place at Long Bridge Park and would involve “a small stage for Citizens for Trump speakers.” He reiterated that he still would like to apply for a permit for the event.

(Posobiec says he is holding a separate event called the “Deploraball” on Jan. 19 at a private venue. Deploraball is not the name of the proposed Arlington event, as earlier reported.)

More of Posobiec’s tweets, after the jump.

(more…)

Residents Continuing to Fight Planned Baseball Field at Bluemont Park

By ARLnow.com
1/6

Undeterred by the fact that the Arlington County Board already approved a contract for the project earlier this summer, a group of Bluemont and Boulevard Manor residents are continuing to fight the planned construction of a baseball and softball field in Bluemont Park.

Opponents of the project faced off with youth baseball and softball boosters — who support the new field and say it’s necessary to meet demand — at a community meeting Wednesday night. The “listening session” was organized by Arlington County, in response to opposition to the field that has been building since late summer.

A primary concern of the opponents: that the field will be fenced in, thus precluding other uses of what’s currently a poorly maintained but open baseball diamond. A temporary construction fence is already up at the site.

In a presentation during the meeting, county staff said the renovation will bring the field to “County and industry standards and address accessibility, safety and stormwater requirements.”

A county spokeswoman, meanwhile, said the discussion from the meeting and other community feedback will be considered by county staff and the County Board.

“The community is invited to share additional feedback on the website through October 14,” said Bryna Helfer, Arlington’s newly-appointed Director of Communications and Public Engagement. “The County Manager will update the Board at the November 10, 2016 County Board recessed meeting.”

Baseball field opponents said the meeting did not change any minds or clear up the process going forward.

“It was the usual dog-and-pony show,” said local activist Suzanne Sundburg.

“There were a number of speakers who supported the fencing, baseball-softball enthusiasts, naturally,” Sundburg said. “But they were evenly matched by the number of other park users in the community who do not want open space to be fenced off permanently for just a single sport that is played, at most 8 months a year.”

“Staff couldn’t answer any questions about the construction schedule,” she continued. “Nor could they provide any timetable or date for a follow-up meeting.”

Sundburg said that some county staffers “indicated that the plan was pretty much set and that only ‘tweaks’ would be possible at this late date,” while others “were more open to urging the board to consider ‘options.'”

Opponents have been using data and quantitative analysis to make the case against a year-round, fenced in baseball field.

One emailed county staff with “data… assembled and analyzed over the past 3 weeks,” arguing that baseball fields are used for only a portion of daylight hours during the year and that there are enough fields for existing baseball and softball games. Another argument: that the project is within a floodplain.

“No one wants to prevent the existing field from being used for baseball, though several people asked whether rehabbing this particular field (to the tune of $700K) made sense, given the existing drainage problems, proximity to a Chesapeake Bay Resource Protection Area, and the fact that this field lies in a FEMA floodplain,” the resident wrote.

Residents Want County Board to Cancel Bluemont Park Baseball Field Project

By ARLnow.com
1/4

A $720,000 project to renovate a baseball field in Bluemont Park, approved by the County Board in July, is now facing some community resistance.

A number of residents, along with the Boulevard Manor and Bluemont civic associations, have written letters to the Board asking them to reconsider their decision. The primary concern: a planned fence around the new field.

“Permanently fencing off over a quarter of the open field at Bluemont Park is a drastic action that deserves the full ‘Arlington Way’ treatment,” wrote Boulevard Manor Civic Association President Phil Klingelhofer.

“In violation of the ‘Arlington Way,’ the decision was made with no input from the community and was hidden on the County Board’s Consent Agenda with no notice… of the drastic change it proposed making to Bluemont Park,” Klingelhofer continued. “Our Civic Association first heard of a proposal to improve Bluemont field number 3 when we got a cryptic notice of a meeting to ‘learn about planned field renovations.'” (Links added.)

In a Board report published June 30, county staff said the new baseball field will include “sod, new irrigation, site circulation, fencing, backstops, bleachers, site furnishings, signage, ADA accessibility improvements, landscaping, and site drainage.” An included diagram details a “proposed” fence along with proposed bullpens and a proposed batting cage.

“Athletic field #3 is beyond reasonable maintenance and requires full renovation,” the report notes. Residents, however, say that a fenced-in baseball field — as opposed to the current open baseball field — reduces recreational options in the park.

“Irrespective of whether the process was sufficiently transparent, a bad plan is still a bad plan,” wrote Bluemont resident Suzanne Smith Sundburg. “The fencing and thus conversion of what is currently multipurpose, open-field parkland to a dedicated, single-sport field does a disservice to the many Boulevard Manor and Bluemont community residents as well as other residents who use this space for a variety of athletic and recreational activities. Passive, flexible, open-field space costs little to maintain and maximizes the use of the space.”

A Boulevard Manor resident complained to the Board that the public process behind the field was lacking.

“The purpose of the poorly understood March meeting becomes all the more murky if county staff was presenting a fait accompli to whoever may have attended rather than soliciting real input about the merits of the project,” wrote Joshua Handler. “I ask that the County Board rescind its decision to build a permanent baseball diamond… until the project can be thoroughly vetted by the adjacent communities and its impacts on greenspace, the multipurpose use of the park, the quality of life of the surrounding neighborhoods and the park visitors’ experience.”

Sundburg also expressed concern about runoff from the field into the Chesapeake Bay — as well as a short connector trail that’s set to be built as part of the project. The trail is billed as a “safe route” for nearby Ashlawn Elementary.

Sundburg wrote:

My second concern is the “Safe Routes to School trail connector.” More pavement means more runoff. And calling this a “safe route” sounds like a really sick joke considering that a convicted sex offender has been living in the [neighborhood], just east of where this “safe” route connection is to be constructed. The man has completed his sentence and is free to roam about. Neighbors in this area have reported seeing him frequently walking on the nearby paths and in the parks, particularly at times when children are arriving home from school.

County staff and the County Board have worked hard to urbanize Arlington. With urbanization come some unpleasant realities — including more two-footed predators living among us. Encouraging Bluemont’s young children to walk along isolated paths and through parks to get to school is beyond belief.

This isn’t the first controversy over a recreational facility in the Bluemont area. Four years ago the community was roiled by a since-scrapped proposal to build bocce court along the Bluemont Trail.

The County Board will have its first meeting of the fall, following its August break, this coming Saturday.

Another Errant Poo Found in Ft. Barnard Park

By ARLnow.com
1/2

For at least the third time in a month, someone has dropped a very public deuce at Ft. Barnard Park.

The feces was found on woodchips in the park’s playground area this morning. It was partially covered with a shirt.

“Staff found human waste covered with a shirt at Ft. Barnard Park today,” confirmed Arlington Dept. of Parks and Recreation spokeswoman Susan Kalish. “This is the first time we’ve noticed it since the last incidence mentioned in the media. We have stepped up patrols with police and park rangers but have not been able to determine the culprit.”

Each subsequent defecation has prompted a clean-up job by county workers. The park is a particularly popular spot for children and their caretakers.

Photos (above) courtesy Annabella Brooks

More Doo-Doo Found in Park as Search for Serial Pooper Continues

By ARLnow.com

Ft. Barnard Park on 8/24/16

A “serial pooper” has left a No. 2 on the Ft. Barnard Park playground for the second time in as many weeks.

The ill-placed excrement was spotted this morning, conveniently while county crews were at the park for routine landscaping work.

“Unfortunately, the serial pooper struck again this morning,” a nearby resident told ARLnow.com. “This time it was not covered by a shirt, but a pile of human feces was found on the playground by some benches. County landscapers were already on the scene when it was found and called their office to arrange for cleanup and to discuss other methods to deter or catch the pooper. I guess this makes him the very brazen serial pooper.”

Arlington Dept. of Parks and Recreation spokeswoman Susan Kalish confirmed that feces was found and that employees promptly took action to remove it.

“Yes, we found some more this morning,” Kalish said. “It is being cleaned up. We’ve notified police, rangers and are also working with homeless advocates.”

Kalish relayed some bullet points from the parks department regarding the defecation situation, including the somewhat surprising revelation that poop is pretty common in parks.

This is unacceptable behavior.

  • To reiterate – please do not poop in public places. This is something your mom should have taught you long ago.

When we know about it, we remove it immediately.

  • General practice is to remove waste on natural surfaces such as grass or mulch. However if the waste is on a surface such as concrete, paving or playgrounds, staff removes the waste and the cleans the area with disinfectant.
  • Staff has turned the issue over to police and park rangers to continue investigating in an effort to stop the issue.

We regret this sometimes happens.

  • As surprising as it may sound, it is not uncommon to find human waste in a park.
  • A couple months ago we noticed sporadically the waste in Ft. Barnard Park. It stood out because someone puts a t-shirt on top of it.
  • It became more common over the last month so park maintenance staff started pro-active check-ins at the park.
  • It seems that the waste is deposited overnight.

As of 11 a.m. this morning, it appeared that the latest droppings had been cleaned up and about a dozen children and caretakers were in the park, playing on the playground.

‘Serial Pooper’ Strikes Again in Ft. Barnard Park

By ARLnow.com

Ft. Barnard Park playground (photo via Arlington County)

Someone has been repeatedly pooping on the Ft. Barnard Park playground, off of S. Walter Reed Drive, and it’s prompting police to step up patrols of the park.

A local resident wrote a letter to ARLnow.com this morning expressing disgust at the improper public potty practice.

Good Morning,

Since my neighbors and I are having no luck through Arlington Parks and Rec, I am hoping you might take interest in this story and help get the word out so we can get more attention to it. I live on S. Pollard Street, and for the fourth time in less than a year and second time in less than 2 weeks, someone has defecated on the playground at Ft. Barnard Park at the corner of S. Pollard and Walter Reed Drive. They poop around the play equipment, not off to the side or in the bushes, and cover the feces with a shirt so that some unsuspecting child or parent can pick it up and get a fecal surprise. Parks & Rec comes to scoop it up and leaves smears; this morning it was tracked all over the playground by what I can only assume is a small child. Obviously we need some kind of patrol or enforcement or at the least, awareness of this disgusting person and the health hazard he or she is inflicting on our playground.

I will also throw in there that there was a stabbing at the other end of our block on the corner of S. Pollard and 22nd St. S. a couple months ago and someone was almost killed, so we obviously need better police presence.

Thank you for any attention you can bring to this ridiculously disgusting story.

Arlington County Police spokeswoman Ashley Savage said the police department was just informed of the unsanitary situation.

“The Emergency Communication Center received a call today reporting defecation at Ft. Barnard Park,” Savage said. “This is the first call for service we’ve received regarding this issue at that location. The District Team in the area has been notified and extra checks will be conducted.”

Savage said the stabbing, which is unrelated to the pooping, resulted in non-life-threatening injuries to the victim. The incident happened in April and started as two people who knew each other having an argument about the Washington Redskins.

From an ACPD crime report:

MALICIOUS WOUNDING, 160427038, 2200 block of S. Pollard Street. At approximately 7:25 p.m. on April 27, police were dispatched to Virginia Hospital Center for the report of a male victim suffering non-life threatening injuries as a result of a stabbing. The investigation revealed that following a verbal altercation between known subjects, the male victim was stabbed several times in the arms and abdomen. Warrants were obtained for malicious wounding for Larry Clinton Tootle Jr, 50, of Arlington Va.

This afternoon, the resident who wrote the original letter to ARLnow.com let us know that the latest poop had been picked up.

“I want to let you know that we spoke to parks and Rec again today and they sent someone over to clean up the most recent pile,” the resident wrote. “I also emailed the director of Parks and Rec today but she is out of the office. Our problem isn’t with the poor people who have to clean this up — it’s the fact that nothing so far is being done to stop it and the clean up is inadequate and does not sanitize the playground.”

Arlington Dept. of Parks and Recreation spokeswoman Susan Kalish said the department “is aware of the issue.”

“We are working to find a solution to the problem,” Kalish said via email. “We regularly inspect the park and clean up as needed. If it is placed on natural surfaces, such as grass or mulch we just pick it up. If it is placed on hard surfaces we pick it up as well as use a disinfectant in the area. Staff was not aware of additional issues after its recent clean up… [they are] going to the [park] to see what additional clean up is needed.”

This isn’t the first time an Arlington park had a pooping problem. In August 2014 we reported that local parents were peeved about toddlers peeing and pooping in Penrose Park.

Photo via Arlington County

Voters to Decide on Four Bond Issues This Fall

By ARLnow.com

Outside of one of Arlington's polling locations

As part of its latest Capital Improvement Plan, the Arlington County Board last night approved a new slate of bond referenda that will appear on the ballot this fall.

The county has proposed four bonds for voters to consider. In total the bonds add up to some $315.8 million.

  • Metro and Transportation — $58,785,000
  • Local Parks and Recreation — $19,310,000
  • Community Infrastructure — $98,850,000
  • Arlington Public Schools — $138,830,000

In a board report, county staff detailed the planned use of funds for each bond.

Metro and Transportation:

This proposal will fund a variety of transportation, road, pedestrian enhancement and transit projects across the County. The largest components of this proposal are $30 million for Arlington County’s share of WMATA / Metro’s capital improvement program, and $24 million to fund a portion of the costs for paving local streets and roadways. Proceeds of this proposal will also fund bridge renovation, street lights, transportation systems & traffic signals, as well as the WALKArlington, BikeArlington, Safe Routes to Schools, and Curb & Gutter Missing Links programs. The County Board may reallocate bond funds among the various projects to the extent necessary or desirable.

Local Parks and Recreation:

This proposal will fund various parks improvements and enhancements, as well as $3 million for the Land Acquisition and Open Space Program for strategic park acquisitions. This proposal would also fund the Trail Modernization program, design and planning at Jennie Dean Park and construction at Tyrol Hills Park, and maintenance capital improvements such as playground, courts and other parks infrastructure improvements. The County Board may reallocate bond funds among the various projects to the extent necessary or desirable.

Community Infrastructure:

This proposal will fund a variety of County infrastructure projects. The largest component of this proposal is $46.46 million for the Lubber Run Community Center project. Also included is $12 million of funding for Neighborhood Conservation projects, as well as funding for the Nauck Town Square, planning & design of the Fire Station 8 replacement, renovations & improvements to government facilities in the Court House Complex, renovation of the Barcroft Sports & Fitness Center for additional gymnastics, and a County childcare facility. The Neighborhood Conservation Program provides funding for a variety of neighborhood-identified capital improvement projects including street improvements (sidewalk, curb and gutter, drainage, paving), traffic management and pedestrian enhancements, park improvements, street lighting, recreational facilities, landscaping, and beautification.

It also includes funding of a joint County & Schools parking deck and other improvements at the Thomas Jefferson middle school site due to the construction of a new elementary school, critical systems infrastructure upgrades to 24×7 hour facilities; and facilities maintenance capital improvements, including design and construction of projects including but not limited to roofs, electrical and heating / cooling systems and other facilities infrastructure. The County Board may reallocate bond funds among the various projects to the extent necessary or desirable.

Arlington Public Schools:

This proposal will make funds available for the Arlington Public Schools’ capital improvement program. The proposed bonds will fund the following projects:

  • The new middle school at the Stratford site ($26,030,000)
  • The new school at the Wilson site ($78,400,000)
  • Addition and renovation at the Career Center/Arlington Tech ($12,000,000)
  • Planning for secondary seats at location(s) to be determined ($10,000,000), and
  • Infrastructure capital projects such as HVAC, roofing, etc. ($12,400,000)

The School Board may reallocate bond funds among the various projects to the extent necessary or desirable.

The Board also approved its $3.3 billion 2017-2026 Capital Improvement Plan Tuesday night. A county press release on the plan, after the jump.

(more…)

Arlington Mom: Swim Instructor’s Man Boobs Should Be Covered Around My Daughter

By ARLnow.com

Yorktown pool (photo from Arlington Public Schools website)A local mom is making waves within the Arlington Dept. of Parks and Recreation’s aquatics program.

The mother, who goes by “Lynn” but didn’t want her last name used, to protect her daughter’s privacy, says a male swim instructor is showing too much skin — specifically, his chest — in the pool. She wants the man to wear a shirt when teaching her daughter (and other children) how to swim.

This morning, after a Parks and Rec staffer told her the department wouldn’t force the instructor to wear anything in the pool other than appropriate swim trunks, Lynn emailed numerous local reporters and news outlets with her complaint.

The biggest problem, she explained, is skin-to-skin contact, which she finds intolerable.

“I sit with my daughter every week watching her… and of course the instructors are touching and holding children the entire time!” she said in an email. (Lynn has had other complaints against the Parks and Rec department, but this is the most recent issue.)

Arlington County Dept. of Parks and Recreation spokeswoman Susan Kalish told ARLnow.com that swim shirts are optional for instructors.

“All of the aquatic instructors that are employed by Arlington County are required to wear proper swim attire,” Kalish said via email. “For men, they must wear swim trunks. We provide instructors with a rash-guard shirt (worn in water), which is optional. The Department of Parks and Recreation received a complaint regarding staff attire from a customer on Wednesday, June 8. Staff responded promptly and offered to cancel the class enrollment and provide a full refund.”

The full exchange between Lynn, Parks and Rec staffers and the media, starting with Lynn’s email to the department, is below.

Hello Crystal:

I took my daughter to this class yesterday. Unfortunately the male instructor’s breasts were flopping on the water and we felt extremely uncomfortable with her getting into the water skin-to-skin and in such close proximity to his intimate space. When I mentioned this to the Parks & Rec representative she told me that other parents had also complained; that he was asked to put a shirt on but refused.

To be in such close and intimate proximity to this man’s bare chest, breasts and public [chest] hair is unfathomable and I can not believe it is tolerated.

I’d like to switch my daughter’s class to an instructor who is more appropriate and does not make us feel uncomfortable.

The following email was sent Wednesday, by a Parks and Rec staffer.

Crystal forwarded your email to me, as she works in the Registration office.

To address your concern, all of the instructors teaching for DPR wear swim suits that are appropriate for swimming pools, active movement, both in and out of the swimming pool and for teaching swimming lessons. Swim shirts are provided to instructors to wear, typically for warmth but are not required. I am sorry that you feel uncomfortable, however, [the instructor] handles himself in a very professional manner in water with students. Your daughter is enrolled in a Fin 3 class, where typically, most of the swimming skills are taught through verbal directions and demonstration and are practiced independently, with some correction from the instructor. But some skills do require the instructor to have contact with the students.

I do not have another class to switch your daughter into for the session that you are currently enrolled. If you do not wish to continue, I can cancel her enrollment in the class.

Please let me know how you would like to proceed.

Warm Regards,

Trina Wood
Aquatics Coordinator

Lynn sent the following email to various local media outlets and reporters Wednesday evening, shortly after receiving the above email.

Hello Arlington County Newspapers, Radio and Media Corp:

Do you know how badly the Arlington County Parks & Recreation System sucks? Get back in touch with me and I’ll gladly share my experiences from over the years. It’s mostly due to responses like the one I received — it’s like everyone in the parks & rec system have undergone the exact same training: “How to be a Jerk”.

Today’s response is not the first of its nature. Again, I would be glad to share my experiences with you, you will be shocked. Please get back in touch with me.

Se habla espanol.

Thanks.

Based on the letters, do you think Lynn has a legitimate complaint? Or is this perhaps an example of inappropriate body shaming? (Via sources, we understand that the instructor has a pretty normal male physique.) Let us know in the comments.

Peter’s Take: More Parkland For More People

By Peter Rousselot

peter_rousselot_2014-12-27_for_facebookPeter’s Take is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

By some measures, Arlington parks are doing well, but without changing course, we’re falling behind.

Arlington Parks are Ranked 4th in the Nation…

Congratulations to Arlington County on our park system being ranked as 4th among the nation’s 100 largest cities by the authoritative Trust for Public Land (TPL) in its ParkScore® index, based on the three factors of Park Access, Park Size, and Facilities and Investment.

But, Our Parkland Acreage is Already Inadequate for Current… and Future… Population

As I detailed in earlier columns, our public parks and recreational facilities are a core government service. They provide social, health and environmental benefits critical to the quality of life in our community. Unfortunately, as a snapshot in time, the ParkScore® index doesn’t reveal that current demand in Arlington for active and passive parks and recreation already far exceeds current resources. County land acquisition has not kept pace with population growth, resulting in increased shortages and overcrowding of all forms of recreational and outdoor space.

Over a 20-year period, Arlington County acquired an annual average of 3.8 acres of new public parkland. The most recent trend has been lower — just 0.63 acres were purchased in 2015. The result is an ongoing decline in the ratio of parkland per 1,000 residents, declining from a ratio of 10.8 acres of parkland per 1,000 residents in 1995 to 7.9 acres per 1,000 residents in 2015 with a considerably lower average in our high-density corridors.   Our neighbors are doing much better: D.C. has 13.2 acres of parkland per 1,000 residents; Fairfax County has over 20 acres of parkland per 1,000 residents, and is planning to purchase an additional 2,015 acres for parks.

Yet, our Comprehensive Plan contemplates the addition of 35,300 households or an estimated additional 75,400 people by 2040, a dramatic increase of 36%. What is now an acute shortage in active and passive park and recreation resources will turn into a crisis by 2040 unless the County accelerates its parkland acquisition now.

We need increased CIP Funding

Unfortunately, the County Manager’s proposed CIP includes only $3 million of parkland acquisition funding for fiscal years 2017 and 2018, at p.B-5, well below funding levels before the Great Recession.

Between 1995 and 2008, funding for parkland acquisition per two-year park bond cycle was between $4.0 and $8.5 million, with most cycles at $8.5 million. Yet between 2008 and 2014, a six year period, parkland acquisition funding, from both bonds ($3.0 million) and budget allocations ($5.47 million), totaled only $8.47 million.

With land in Arlington costing on average at least $4 million per acre and increasing every year, the $3 million of land acquisition funds now proposed for the CIP for fiscal years 2017 and 2018 will potentially purchase approximately only three quarters of an acre of parkland! This is woefully inadequate to meet current, no less projected, demands for passive and active recreation in our County.

Conclusion

The County Board needs to dramatically increase the parkland acquisition funding in the 2017-2018 CIP to at least $8 million, the same approximate level as prior to the Great Recession, for inclusion on the November 2016 ballot.

Let’s ensure that we have adequate parkland for all of our people in the future… and that Arlington continues to rank highly in the ParkScore® index.

Peter Rousselot is a former member of the Central Committee of the Democratic Party of Virginia and former chair of the Arlington County Democratic Committee.

View More Stories