Taking Back Our Land

Council member Jack Evans appears to be gearing up for a fight to take back from the Federal Government some of the city’s most valuable assets, including many of its parks, squares, and Georgetown waterfront. In his column in the Nov. 19 Georgetowner, Evans writes of the District’s desire for a measure of self-determination: “From the Georgetown Waterfront to Franklin Square to Pennsylvania Avenue, local control of parks and roads in the District is a win-win for the District and Federal governments. The Republican Congress can shrink the size of the Federal Government, and the District can more appropriately utilize those spaces for city residents.”

The council member’s thoughts appear to be well in-line with many in the city who are frustrated by the imposed infantilization of the community at the hands of the federal government. Examples of our lack of control abound. The National Park Service controls about 637 parcels of land in the District for a total of 6,776 acres, with 425 of those parcels tiny at an acre or less. Little money or care is spent by the NPS in maintaining those spaces and they are generally desolate, empty and sad.

The city made what many now see as a deal with the devil when it ceded control of most of the Georgetown waterfront to the NPS in the 1980s. The arrangement was structured in large measure to avoid the associated maintenance costs and a real fear among some in the Council that the area would be forever lost to developers as a quick, but shortsighted way to help fill the city’s empty coffers.

The chickens have now come home to roost, and the true downside of the deal is glaringly apparent. While the NPS could become a true partner with the people of Georgetown, it appears to have its own plans and private agenda as to how to use the most valuable property in the District. We have seen recently how the federal agency is tone-deaf to local wishes, as it repeatedly bungled the waterfront for boaters from Thompson Boat Center down to Fletcher’s Boathouse. This indifference was brought to light in 2012 during the Jack’s Boathouse debacle when, despite a huge outcry by thousands of citizens, civic leaders and city political leaders, the NPS threw out long-time local operators to place Boston-based concessionaires in the spot.

The NPS’s curious indifference for local needs was detailed in a Washington Post article, headlined, “The Grand Canyon or Logan Circle? It’s all the same to the Park Service.” The Post story frames the problem as, “A bureaucratic mentality at the National Park Service that insists on applying the same regulations at the Grand Canyon and Logan Circle, without recognizing the vastly different role that parks play in urban settings.” The Post goes on to opine: “The Park Service throws up obstacles to new ideas rather than work with local communities to find solutions, even when doing so would advance the agency’s mission of preserving national resources for the enjoyment of all.” There is no argument that the District has an important national interest that surely needs consideration, but that’s not happening as well as it could be. Beyond the national concerns and politics, D.C. is the home of more than 600,000 citizens, who are in a far better position to decide, protect, promote and pay for the kind of neighborhood public spaces they deserve without having to beg for the morsels tossed from the federal government.

Perhaps we’re grasping at straws by reading too much into the few words that Evans wrote, but we’re hoping it means that getting our land back is a priority for him and the city. If that’s the case, we look forward to hearing about the next steps to make it happen.