Hearst Playground story in Current

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Have we pushed for the Fort Bayard Park at River Road and Western Avenue. Federally owned and maintained but nearly unused by the neighborhood compared to the amount of land. This Federal land could be handed over to the city. It is not doing the American citizens any good. But the neighborhood could really make use of it. Have we tried to see about Fort Reno and other land around Alice Deal? The Hearst field is already well used and I think a pool would be pushing out soccer players etc, just as would have happened at Turtle Park if a pool had been included in the new design.
Joan, in Friendship Heights

This is the same argument used by Cliven Bundy to appropriate federal land for himself and his cattle. He is nearby, so why can't he just have it?

NPS will stand firm against this sort of provincial nonsense; it's a non-starter

Yup, won't happen; and if it did, it should be used for a school. Ward 3 does not have enough schools for the population.

Why does DC need more elementary schools when John Eaton is 60% OOB and Hearst is significantly higher than that. If more school capacity is needed, DCPS needs to throttle back OOB spots as kids move through the school.

In any case, DC is not going to locate a new school on a small site (even if they did own it) on the MD border on Western Ave.
A much more appropriate site for a new school, if one is needed, is the Second District police station site on Idaho Ave. But not DC is doubling down there by building a 50 unit homeless shelter, so that site will never be a school.

Nope Hearst is already down to 50 percent and falling (I say this without saying it is a good thing or a bad thing; it is just a fact). Both of these schools are also on the small side for Ward 3. Janney and Murch are near 700 with no ability to get bigger, and many of the other Ward 3 schools like Key and Stoddert are also bursting. I don't think another school is likely in Ward 3, but it could relieve overcrowding if it could be made to happen. VERY unlikely that it would happen on NPS land though.

From the standpoint of having a system of neighborhood elementary schools, this is without question a good thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:It seems like there is enough room for a pool: I'd be interested.

I'd be interested, too, if someone can explain where it will go. So far the only site options at the park seem to be where the tennis courts are and where the Hearst artificial turf field and basketball court are located. If either site is pursued, these facilities will have to be relocated, so the question would be where?

Interesting that no one seems to be able to respond to these basic questions.

Anyone can guess, but you know what? The city hired some professionals to do this, so why don't we wait and see what they present as options?

It's hard to see how a pool gets built without someone's ox being gored: recreational soccer teams players, if the field size is cut in half; tennis players if the courts are torn out and not replaced; or Hearst students and parents of little kids in the neighborhood, if the turf field and basketball courts are removed. Pick your poison.

And the city understands that all of those are important as well as the trees. Maybe they can put courts on the roof of the pool house, who know, so let's wait and see rather than assume that any of our interests are getting gored.

Don't worry: Mary Cheh will consider the needs of park users and ensure that all interests are protected.

Uh, right. Just like with the Cathedral Commons homeless shelter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was at the meeting and am appalled how selfish and truly un-neighborly and un-community oriented the residents who are objecting to the pool are acting.

I am sure these people have no problem parking close to Tenleytown or Cleveland Park to shop, eat, use the metro or library but want to keep us out of using the one space that a Ward 3 pool is possible.

It is truly disgusting.

Wouldn't the UDC campus be a great site? It's central, Metro accessible and already developed. The Murch swing space site would be ideal for a pool, once the Murch re-do is finished and the swing site is no longer needed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was at the meeting and am appalled how selfish and truly un-neighborly and un-community oriented the residents who are objecting to the pool are acting.

I am sure these people have no problem parking close to Tenleytown or Cleveland Park to shop, eat, use the metro or library but want to keep us out of using the one space that a Ward 3 pool is possible.

It is truly disgusting.

The same thing happened around the renovation of Hearst. A small group of vocal neighbors protested the design and as a result it had to be redesigned to remove a much-needed service road. The good of the entire school was sacrificed for the demands of the few.

As a resident in the neighborhood, I hear mostly support of the pool from others. The group that attends these meetings does not represent the voice of the community.

That's why UDC is such a great site. There's no real green space or trees to destroy and a pool would certainly enhance the look of that property.

+1 These people screaming at meetings need to accept they live in an urban environment and that there will be changes to their surroundings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When the homeless shelter opens a few blocks away, there will be 50 families times an average of 3+ kids that would love a pool there. Perhaps Hearst can take some of these kids and take the burden off Eaton?

Eaton can keep the kids and Hearst will take the pool, thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
The field is not used year-round because it turns to mud when it rains, and then is useless. Those of us who tried to have soccer games/practices there this spring had them cancelled virtually every week. As a PP said, we have tons of green space in this town -- it's called Rock Creek Park. We need another turf field and a pool!! Do you know how hard it is to come by pool space in this town?

Every outdoor activity was cancelled repeatedly this Spring. It rained non-stop. There was nothing special about Hearst in that regard.

What do you mean it's hard to come by pool space? There are plenty of pool options around.

Please tell me what these pool options are. The only outdoor public pool in the area around Hearst is Volta. Wilson is an indoor pool. While it's wonderful, it's not the same as having an outdoor pool. The only other outside options in this general neighborhood are the Beauvoir Pool (which costs over $1000 to join for the summer and has limited hours) and the Mt. Vernon Pool (GW campus in Palisades), which is also costly. How is that "plenty" of pool options? Have you ever gone to Volta on the weekend in the summer? You can barely find a place to sit down at the pool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The field is not used year-round because it turns to mud when it rains, and then is useless. Those of us who tried to have soccer games/practices there this spring had them cancelled virtually every week. As a PP said, we have tons of green space in this town -- it's called Rock Creek Park. We need another turf field and a pool!! Do you know how hard it is to come by pool space in this town?

Every outdoor activity was cancelled repeatedly this Spring. It rained non-stop. There was nothing special about Hearst in that regard.

What do you mean it's hard to come by pool space? There are plenty of pool options around.

Please tell me what these pool options are. The only outdoor public pool in the area around Hearst is Volta. Wilson is an indoor pool. While it's wonderful, it's not the same as having an outdoor pool. The only other outside options in this general neighborhood are the Beauvoir Pool (which costs over $1000 to join for the summer and has limited hours) and the Mt. Vernon Pool (GW campus in Palisades), which is also costly. How is that "plenty" of pool options? Have you ever gone to Volta on the weekend in the summer? You can barely find a place to sit down at the pool.

Er, ever been to Jelleff? Bigger and closer than Volta. There's a great dpr pool at Francis Stevens and a dpr kiddie pool in Adams-Morgan.

There are several hotels (eg Marriott Wardman) with costs similar to Beauvoir, and there's the Cleveland Park Club, which costs but not that much.

[Anonymous]

Also, let's be clear that dpr outdoor hours are more limited than the private pools, so if you're looking for all-day avsilability, Hearst won't solve it.

[Anonymous]

Upshur is close to Crestwood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, let's be clear that dpr outdoor hours are more limited than the private pools, so if you're looking for all-day avsilability, Hearst won't solve it.

And the rules....

[Anonymous]

The park renovation is critical to help address the stormwater issues that currently exist at Hearst and down Springland Lane. Whether there is a pool or not has nothing to do with addressing those issues.

-A Springland resident who gets flooded every time it rains.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The park renovation is critical to help address the stormwater issues that currently exist at Hearst and down Springland Lane. Whether there is a pool or not has nothing to do with addressing those issues.

-A Springland resident who gets flooded every time it rains.

You are going to get flooded a lot more if they put in a turf. And it may not be the field itself that is causing the run-off but the landscaping on the Springland Lane side of the field which is a funnel that runs onto your street.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The park renovation is critical to help address the stormwater issues that currently exist at Hearst and down Springland Lane. Whether there is a pool or not has nothing to do with addressing those issues.

-A Springland resident who gets flooded every time it rains.

You are going to get flooded a lot more if they put in a turf. And it may not be the field itself that is causing the run-off but the landscaping on the Springland Lane side of the field which is a funnel that runs onto your street.

Not to mention when they replace all of the permeable grass and tree canopy with impermeable concrete decking and a pool.

[Anonymous]

http://espn.go.com/espnw/news-commentary/article/14206717/how-safe-fields-where-play

http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2016/03/28/professor-identifies-cancer-causing-chemicals-in-artificial-turf/#43a4a4d97fdd

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/cancer-artificial-turf-crumb-rubber_us_570960a3e4b0142232493441

http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2016/02/13/government-finally-to-look-into-possible-link-between-artificial-turf-and-cancer/#23b44a1b30cf

http://www.ehhi.org/reports/turf/health_effects.shtml

http://www.pulseheadlines.com/federal-investigation-rubber-turf-linked-cancer/17570/

http://www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2016/03/05/synthetic-turf-cancer-safety

[Anonymous]

The study showed average surface temperature from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on a June day to be 117 degrees on both soccer and football artificial turf fields, with a high reading of 156 degrees on the football field. By contrast, the natural turf average temperature was 78.2 degree

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93364750

http://plantscience.psu.edu/research/centers/ssrc/documents/temperature.pdf

http://aces.nmsu.edu/programs/turf/documents/brigham-young-study.pdf