Hearst Playground story in Current

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

So please, please, show us how we can eat lots of cake and lose weight at the same time. Unless you envision a tiny kiddie pool, please explain how Hearst users will see the large tree canopy preserved and also enjoy the full sized grass field, the playground, the hoops court and the tennis courts -- and an outdoor pool. None of the DPR sketches showed how this is possible, and that's with DC conceding that the plans were simply indicative and didn't include the full dimensions of the pool, surrounding deck, pool house, equipment shed, etc.

As for the mayor, in response to questions on the Hearst pool at a community forum a while back, she made it very clear that this is Mary Cheh's baby, not hers. And if waiting for a Hearst pool or a service road is "killing" Cleveland Park, it seems that neither the real estate market nor the DC tax assessor have gotten the memo.

Killing Cleveland Park Commercial area - so many vacancies.

I guess we have politicians talking out of both sides of their mouths, because the ones we have spoken to all favor the pool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

So please, please, show us how we can eat lots of cake and lose weight at the same time. Unless you envision a tiny kiddie pool, please explain how Hearst users will see the large tree canopy preserved and also enjoy the full sized grass field, the playground, the hoops court and the tennis courts -- and an outdoor pool. None of the DPR sketches showed how this is possible, and that's with DC conceding that the plans were simply indicative and didn't include the full dimensions of the pool, surrounding deck, pool house, equipment shed, etc.

As for the mayor, in response to questions on the Hearst pool at a community forum a while back, she made it very clear that this is Mary Cheh's baby, not hers. And if waiting for a Hearst pool or a service road is "killing" Cleveland Park, it seems that neither the real estate market nor the DC tax assessor have gotten the memo.

Killing Cleveland Park Commercial area - so many vacancies.

I guess we have politicians talking out of both sides of their mouths, because the ones we have spoken to all favor the pool.

So the lack of a Hearst pool is killing the Cleveland Park commercial area?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All of those things could still be done at Hearst, with a pool.

They could build a jacuzzi at Hearst. That might work, aside from the ick factor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All of those things could still be done at Hearst, with a pool.

Is it a new suspended in air pool, deck, and pool equipment? Because otherwise, something has to go.

[Anonymous]

There should be an outdoor pool in ward 3. Does it have to be at Hearst. Is there any other spot that would work? Maybe at Lafayette? Or fort Reno?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There should be an outdoor pool in ward 3. Does it have to be at Hearst. Is there any other spot that would work? Maybe at Lafayette? Or fort Reno?

Or on the Cleveland Park commercial corridor itself, thereby making sense of the PP's bizarre post that the lack of a Ward 3 pool is somehow killing it. Perhaps the swimmers could buy their ice cream sandwiches at Brookville market then?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There should be an outdoor pool in ward 3. Does it have to be at Hearst. Is there any other spot that would work? Maybe at Lafayette? Or fort Reno?

While Lafayette is de facto in Ward 3 and has lots of room (and lots of kids in the immediate area), it is technically in Ward 4 where it was shifted 10 years ago or more. So that location wouldn't work for Mary Cheh....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There should be an outdoor pool in ward 3. Does it have to be at Hearst. Is there any other spot that would work? Maybe at Lafayette? Or fort Reno?

Or on the Cleveland Park commercial corridor itself, thereby making sense of the PP's bizarre post that the lack of a Ward 3 pool is somehow killing it. Perhaps the swimmers could buy their ice cream sandwiches at Brookville market then?

Put a very long Ward 3 lap pool in the service lane, which the PP decries as well. Centrally located, Metro accessible. Problem solved!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There should be an outdoor pool in ward 3. Does it have to be at Hearst. Is there any other spot that would work? Maybe at Lafayette? Or fort Reno?

Why?

Why are Ward 3 folks so skittish about going to "other" wards for an outdoor pool?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Destroying a park? That is your opinion.

Would have been great to be able to walk to a pool last week and weekend.

Wilson pool is within walking distance and there are private swim club pools within walking distance from Hearst as well. There are two public outdoor pools a 10 minute drive or bus ride just down Wisconsin Ave. How entitled then to demand yet another public pool, especially when the price is paving much of a quiet, green park.

Status quo is KILLING Cleveland Park. The service lane, the restrictions on establishments, the chronic NIMBYism is simply killing the area. It is time for the old timers to understand, this isn't 1972 or 1950. People want to be able to walk to things and have gathering places. Hearst can have all of the things that make it great today - the trees, the grass field, the playground, the basketball court and tennis courts, as well as an outdoor pool where people can gather in evenings and weekends, stay cool and hang out.

It is just the purely selfish old timers who are fighting this. The Mayor wants it, DPR wants it, the Councilmember wants it the ANCs want it and it is just a handful of crotchety old fogies who probably have pools in their backyards who are opposing this on purely selfish grounds. Keep fighting it, all you are doing is making it easier to recruit the proponets.

So please, please, show us how we can eat lots of cake and lose weight at the same time. Unless you envision a tiny kiddie pool, please explain how Hearst users will see the large tree canopy preserved and also enjoy the full sized grass field, the playground, the hoops court and the tennis courts -- and an outdoor pool. None of the DPR sketches showed how this is possible, and that's with DC conceding that the plans were simply indicative and didn't include the full dimensions of the pool, surrounding deck, pool house, equipment shed, etc.

As for the mayor, in response to questions on the Hearst pool at a community forum a while back, she made it very clear that this is Mary Cheh's baby, not hers. And if waiting for a Hearst pool or a service road is "killing" Cleveland Park, it seems that neither the real estate market nor the DC tax assessor have gotten the memo.

I have seen credible to scale drawings that show how everything can fit but I don't care if they don't - sacrifice the damn tennis courts to make room for the pool. There are numerous tennis courts throughout Ward 3 and they are all lightly used and on a per capita square foot basis a terrible use of scarce DPR land. I've got kids and have already been to the pool (in Bethesda where we pay every time we go) 5 times this summer and the pool is jammed with people. A pair of tennis courts on the other hand are usually serving at most 8 people but almost always just 4 people but often no one at all as my experience is that the tennis courts are often unused but in a best case scenario that space is serving very few people when it is a tennis court.

And yes I'd also sacrifice a mature tree or two to make space for an outdoor pool - trees, especially old ones, do die and can also be replaced. For whatever it matters DC planted 8,000 new trees this spring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There should be an outdoor pool in ward 3. Does it have to be at Hearst. Is there any other spot that would work? Maybe at Lafayette? Or fort Reno?

Why?

Why are Ward 3 folks so skittish about going to "other" wards for an outdoor pool?

I go to the other pools - Jelleff and Volta and Francis and none are convenient - they take a long time to reach on public transit and only Jelleff is really close to a major bus line and parking is difficult at all if we drive which is not something we want to do and none are bikeable to.

But I want my kids to be able to go to a pool in their own community - a pool where they will see their friends, a pool they can get to on their own, a pool they can squeeze a visit to at the end of a busy day instead of it needing to be a half day expedition like it is now.

And I'm not at all skittish about going to another Ward to go for a swim or any other recreational activity - I think a lot of the real skittishnish here is from the immediate neighbors of the pool who are in fact worried about folks from other Wards coming to CP to swim, a fear that sadly has a long and shameful history in Ward 3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There should be an outdoor pool in ward 3. Does it have to be at Hearst. Is there any other spot that would work? Maybe at Lafayette? Or fort Reno?

NPS already said no to Ft Reno.

Lafayette of Chevy Chase Community Center would be great. Suggest those as alternatives. In the meantime, the money is already allocated for Hearst, so I am good with more outdoor pools than less.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There should be an outdoor pool in ward 3. Does it have to be at Hearst. Is there any other spot that would work? Maybe at Lafayette? Or fort Reno?

Or on the Cleveland Park commercial corridor itself, thereby making sense of the PP's bizarre post that the lack of a Ward 3 pool is somehow killing it. Perhaps the swimmers could buy their ice cream sandwiches at Brookville market then?

It is the parochial and selfish attitude of my neighbors that is killing Cleveland Park. Whether it is 15 years to get a new grocery store, the adherence to a 1950's parking lane or the opposition to an outdoor pool, it is the same people who are on the other side of what younger and newer residents want as people who will be here longer than those who are fighting these things and have been for 30+ years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I go to the other pools - Jelleff and Volta and Francis and none are convenient - they take a long time to reach on public transit and only Jelleff is really close to a major bus line and parking is difficult at all if we drive which is not something we want to do and none are bikeable to.

But I want my kids to be able to go to a pool in their own community - a pool where they will see their friends, a pool they can get to on their own, a pool they can squeeze a visit to at the end of a busy day instead of it needing to be a half day expedition like it is now.

And I'm not at all skittish about going to another Ward to go for a swim or any other recreational activity - I think a lot of the real skittishnish here is from the immediate neighbors of the pool who are in fact worried about folks from other Wards coming to CP to swim, a fear that sadly has a long and shameful history in Ward 3.

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There should be an outdoor pool in ward 3. Does it have to be at Hearst. Is there any other spot that would work? Maybe at Lafayette? Or fort Reno?

Why?

Why are Ward 3 folks so skittish about going to "other" wards for an outdoor pool?

Good question, particularly when there are two outdoor pools in the Georgetown area, just a hop, skip and a jump from much of Ward 3.