Reply to Please sign petition in support of a Capitol Hill athletic facility at Stuart-Hobson MS

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The petition argues for a sports field well, but doesn't outline the parking problem.  How many spaces will be lost if an athletic field is put in?  How many spaces would be gained by adding a level of parking?  How costly would such construction be?  What other parking options are available nearby?[/quote]

For me, it's sort of a no-brainer, in a rapidly densifying neighborhood, that - whenever possible - space is used in an efficient way, trimming and, yes, stacking wherever we can. Parking as well as athletic fields take up a lot of space. Between the two, I very much prefer athletic fields of course. And I'd be all for digging up every parking lot in this fine city and replacing them all with athletic fields and green space. Alas, as anybody who has coordinated sports teams knows, there is almost no getting around some vehicular traffic, if only the coaches hauling around equipment and balls. Yes, however "green" and "walkable" on thinks, I'm convinced every school needs a certain number of parking spaces to go with it. Even if every teacher takes trains and buses, and I'm truly not sure that's feasible in a profession where hauling around school materials is just a big part of the job, a school has a huge number of itinerant personnel (facilities management, special ed, ELL, specials, visiting athletic teams etc.). To imply that a school should just go ahead and replace parking space with athletic space is hogwash, and would really just put a huge burden on the surrounding neighborhood.[/quote]

Is there a proposal available that contains numbers on parking spaces lost and gained, costs, size of the field? Does DCPS guarantee parking for school staff?

I imagine that the field would accommodate one practice/game at a time and therefore would not require much parking. Does Watkins field have dedicated parking?

Finally, I don't believe the neighborhood is "densifying" as the housing stock hasn't changed. As someone who lives and works in the general neighborhood and has a child in multiple sports, I understand the needs of the community from multiple perspectives and find this proposal to be a poor use of resources. Maybe some facts could convince me otherwise.[/quote]

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