Reply to Hearst Playground story in Current

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Wonderful letter in the Northwest Current about Hearst, from a longtime DC soccer family.[/quote]

There was not a single factually accurate thing in that letter.[/quote]

Really?  Show us?[/quote]

It would be a shorter post to try to point out what is true in the letter but I can barely find anything that is factually accurate.  For those who haven't opened the NW Current yet here is the letter in question:

https://currentnewspapers.com/letter-to-the-editor-hearst-park-shouldnt-be-ward-3-pool-site-by-default/

Claim: Neighbors in every location that has been suggested have successfully resisted having this pool built in their community

Truth:  The only other location for a pool that has been formally suggested was Ft Reno - back in 1967 - and that was resisted for fears of people of color coming to use the pool - I'm not even aware of an informal suggestion of another location

Claim: We're down to one last little piece of ground... by default because every other proposed site has met with well organized resistance

Truth:  See above - there have been no other proposed sites.  Also Hearst park is not a "little piece of ground" or at least there are other pools on smaller DPR plots

Claim: Hearst Field is already overcrowded with various types of recreational facilities

Truth:  Hearst Park (not field) is barely used - the tennis courts are almost always empty and the soccer fields are used part of the year one day a week.  Most of the time Hearst Park is occupied by a couple of off leash dogs and that's it

Claim: Hearst Field is too small to have one more thing added to it

Truth: This is non-sense - other smaller DPR facilities have many more uses designed into them including pools and tennis courts and recreation fields

Claim:  For over 60 years it has been the city's only designated soccer specific field. Other fields are designated for football, baseball and softball

Truth:  No idea what this even means so maybe someone can provide a citation but I know a fair amount about how DPR works around permitting.  While there is only one other formal use at Hearst Park there are many other fields in DC in the DPR inventory where the only formally permitted use of the field is for soccer.  I'm a decade into two kids playing soccer in DC and I can cite a list of DPR fields that are only used for soccer, most of which see far more intense use than Hearst does

Claim: Tennis courts, a children's playground and a field house make up the rest of Hearst Park

Truth:  There is no playground in Hearst Park - the playground (which is the most used thing on the block and often the only used facility on the block) is part of Hearst ES.  In fact much of Hearst Park is not designed for anything which is certainly something one can fairly argue for but that is not what the letter writer stated

Claim:  Because of the sharply sloping topography from a high ridge at 37th Street... storm drainage leaves much to be desired. I have watched many soccer games turn into a muddy mess the day after it rained.

Truth:  Who the hell knows - the author certainly doesn't and she is arguing causation about something she appears to have little understanding of. All of the paving around the park and the flat sections of the park (and the impervious tennis courts) are likely what is causing water to pool on the level soccer field. It also doesn't help that much of the field is hard packed dirt which doesn't really drain well.  In any case DPR has for the entire time my kids have been playing soccer always cancelled games on grass fields on days when it is raining and usually the day after heavy rains as well so I'd certainly be surprised to learn that the author has observed the oft cited heavy Stoddert use of the field on such days.  Also DPR typically addresses water run-off in when parks are renovated - they certainly did that with Turtle Park

Claim:  The entire area is encircled by a row of huge willow oaks... these trees would be a tragic sacrifice to shoehorn a pool into this busy recreational area

Truth:  What entire area means is vague but only 2 of the 4 sides of the soccer field (which is within the parks boundaries) are bounded by oaks.  The northern and western edges of the soccer field (and the park) are not bounded by oaks - in fact the northern edge essentially has no trees and the trees on the western edge are mostly weed trees and bushes many of which are dead others of which are overgrown by ivy (so much for the caring neighbors taking care of the trees).   We can argue in circles about this all year but there is absolutely no reason why a pool where the tennis courts are would damage the oak trees to the south of the soccer field - the courts are at a higher elevation than the trees and also about 100 feet away - and not that the neighbors would care but the UFA which is militantly pro tree from my experience supports putting a pool where the tennis courts are. The trees to the south of the tennis courts are also mostly poorly maintained weed trees but there is no reason why a pool at a lower elevation would threaten them.  And again this is not a busy or heavily used park - even Stoddert barely uses the field which in any case would not be lost

Claim:  Supporters have suggested replacing one tennis court with the pool.  The tennis courts are under the oaks which is great for tennis but not a pool

Truth:  Supporters have suggested replacing the tennis courts with the pool so this is about the closest thing to a truthful statement in the entire letter.  The tennis courts get plenty of light - please go to this PDF and look at page 10:

https://dgs.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dgs/publication/attachments/05%2010%2016%20Hearst%20Intro%20Presentation_Final.pdf

And lots of people at the pool love shade - if you haven't noticed it is hot when people go to the pool and lots of parents don't necessarily even go swimming.  If you go to the Bethesda Pool (which is the one we go to because we don't have a pool in Ward 3) much of the area around the pool is in the shade and in the afternoon a good part of the pool is as well and it doesn't seem to dampen attendance

Statement:  If a pool no bigger than a tennis court will meet the needs of proponents they should join the Cleveland Park Club Pool or put a pool in their own backyards

Response:  No doubt the wealthy neighbors of the pool will pay for our pool memberships (and force the Club to take all comers and propose parking solutions for the increased attendance - on the pools website it appears there is currently a waitlist to get in) or alternately buy everyone in Ward 3 a house with a yard big enough for a pool and pay for the installation and maintenance of the pool?  Hypocritical that someone who earlier in her letter professed concerns about the environment is now advocating that everyone have their own pool which would be extremely wasteful

Statement:  Would a pool no bigger than a tennis court be large enough to serve the rest of Ward 3.

Response:  A fair question - probably the pool should be bigger so perhaps the letter writer would be willing to advocate for such a pool but it is the standard size DPR facility and currently Ward 3 residents are in some cases squeezing into the same size pool in other Wards so is it fair that folks in Ward 2 have to share their undersized pool with Ward 3 residents?

Statement: And where would all those eager swimmers park?

Truth:  There is plenty of on-street parking on both Quebec and 37th in the summer.  Certainly much more on-street parking than there is around other DPR facilities. And in fact if you look in the above referenced URL in both overhead shots of the lot the on-street parking rate in both shots is very low

Statement:  Just because every other community successfully resisted this pool is no reason that it must be put in the last remaining, least hospitable space zin NW DC

Truth: Unless you go back to the race baiting 1960's no other community successfully resisted any proposal for a pool in Ward 3.  This is not the last remaining space in NW DC though this is such a vague statement as to be meaningless but it doesn't matter as this is space in DPR's inventory and the pool needs to go on DPR owned property.  And again there is nothing inhospitable about this space - the only thing that is inhospitable here are the Cleveland Park neighbors who think this little used DPR facility is their private park exclusively for their benefit.

The opponents of the pool need to be smarter or alternately more honest if they want to be taken seriously by people in other parts of the Ward - either come up with some coherent and supportable arguments against the pool at this site or be honest that you just don't want the park to be more intensely used rather than coming up with the nonsense that made up this letter.[/quote]

We appreciate your honesty in conceding that Hearst was the only site considered for a pool (so much for those who claim that other sites were considered and ruled out, including National Park Service property).   This is also exactly what the FOIA response confirmed.  And, as you put it, s far as hydrology and other feasibility assessments at Hearst, “who the hell knows?”
[/quote]

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