It’s all about the neighborhood
The Department of Parks and Recreation announced today that the Petworth Playground at 8th and Taylor Streets NW will temporarily close on April 19th until April 30th for construction.
Read MoreAccording to the Department of Parks and Recreation, here is a list of the pools and spray parks closed to the DC Water issue. Upshur pool and the Petworth spray park are definitely closed. They should reopen tomorrow (Saturday). Here’s a list…
Read MoreThe water pressure in the little park has seemed very lackluster this year, and I'm sure this fix is welcome news for many of our littlest neighbors.
Ward 4 Councilmember Brandon Todd and his staff made a visit to the Petworth Park (801 Taylor St NW) and Petworth Recreation Center this afternoon, along with John Stokes, the chief of staff for the Department of Parks and Recreation.
CM Todd was there to meet with local area parents to hear about concerns and requests for improvements at the park, as well as meeting with Recreation Center staff Clarence Anderson and Karla Kelley. Read more about the visit after the break:
Read MoreThe wilderness that is the Petworth Spray Park
I got a bee in my bonnet about the condition of Petworth Park. Talk about long grass! Petworth Park is in dire need of a hair cut.
I've been emailing the Department of Parks & Recreation (DPR) about the spray park signage since end of May, trying to get the sign replaced. The sign was ripped down and tossed on the ground at the back of the spray park (slowly being swallowed up by the untended grass). After getting tagged with a few choice vulgarities and three months of emails from me to the Aquatics Director, DPR finally removed the sign yesterday and has committed to getting a new sign with updated information (like the correct hours of operation) as soon as possible. According to John Stokes, the deputy director of DPR, it should be installed by mid next week.
My other concern is that grass! It's overgrown throughout the park, and insanely high in the spray park, which presents more concerns. The tall, wet grass inside the spray is a haven for mosquitos. Toddlers and blood-sucking, welt-forming insects are not a good match.
I'm pleased to say that according to emails this morning from Donny Gonzalez from the Department of General Services (DGS), the mowing of the grass is going to be expedited and should be done by tomorrow.
I hope so -- public parks should be a haven for happy kids, not mosquitos.
Updated 9pm 7/28/15: The park has been mowed and all the grass is pretty short.
I was pretty aghast at the incident with the open bottle of muriatic (hydrochloric) acid found on Sunday at the Petworth Spray Park. Anyone can make a mistake, sure... but for a Parks employee to leave an open, apparently full bottle of acid sitting inside a children's spray park on opening weekend is a huge mistake.
Imagine if instead of a parent finding the bottle, it was a curious 3 year old who picked it up, and thinking it was a bottle of water, pours it over his head. That's a typical scenario, and that's why this was such a big deal.
Read more after the break:
Read MorePetworth News, a neighborhood blog on local news, information & events about the Petworth area in Washington DC.
Petworth News is a news site about Petworth area neighborhoods in Washington DC, written by Drew Schneider and other amazing contributing writers. It features facts and objective reporting, as well as an occasional subjective point of view and opinion.
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