[Lincolnparkdc] DC govt & National Park Service have jointly agreed to close roads in Rock Creek Park, Anacostia Park and Fort Dupont Park to create zones for Essential Exerrcise for Residents

[Tom Woteki]

Steve:

Are you aware of any sources of data concerning the situation in DC? For example, you cited some percentages of those testing positive. Are there data like that posted by DC that are accessible to the public?

Thanks,Tom

Dr. Wo’s iPad Pro

> On Apr 12, 2020, at 10:57, Holtzman, Steve (SMD 6B05) <6B05 at anc.dc.gov> wrote:
> 
> 
> Mayor Bowser has announced that the National Park Service (NPS) and the United States Park Police (USPP) will close Beach Drive in Rock Creek Park and roads in Anacostia Park and Fort Dupont Park to vehicle traffic so that residents can access these roads for essential exercise.
> 
> Beach Drive, which is already closed to traffic on the weekends, will keep closures in effect through Thursday, April 30. The USPP and NPS staff will monitor park use as well as guest compliance with social distancing. Some parking areas may temporarily close as needed to minimize congestion.
> 
> Anacostia Park and Fort Davis Drive in Fort Dupont Park will be closed to traffic daily from 8AM to 8PM. This schedule will remain in effect through Thursday, April 30. The Metropolitan Police Department will handle the closures on Sunday, April 12 and Monday, April 13, with USPP taking over the responsibility on Tuesday, April 14 through Thursday, April 30.
> 
> As the coronavirus (COVID-19) public health emergency continues, a stay-at-home order remains in effect. DC residents should only leave home for essential activities. Residents who leave home for essential activities must practice proper social distancing and stay six feet apart from people not in their household.
> 
> Link to the announcement can be found here: https://coronavirus.dc.gov/release/mayor-bowser-and-national-park-service-announce-beach-drive-rock-creek-park-and-roads-fort
> 
> Residents in areas of our neighborhood are already fortunate in that we have already retained access to exercise spaces in NPS run parks on Capitol Hill (Lincoln Park, Stanton Park,Marion Park). I have no information at this stage regarding the future of those sites and, as far as I know, they will remain open and will continue to be monitored by DC Police, National Park Police and DC National guard personnel as they have been recently. If I hear that this changes, I will do my best to inform all as soon as I hear anything.
> 
> Many of you are aware that a proposal was being floated last week to selectively close residential blocks across the city to open up localized spaces for residents to access for essential exercise during the Stay at Home order. While localized sites have a lot of added value, there were also a number of complexities with implementing this plan. I opposed this proposal, although I also proposed some possible modifications/alternatives. I'm reproducing below an email explaining my logic which I shared last week with ANC colleagues on Capitol Hill and others.
> 
> Plesae all keep in mind that is critical that all of these recreational spaces need to be utilized in complete compliance of social distancing guidelines, especially in the coming weeks as the impact of the virus on our metropolitan area is expected to increase. Two weeks ago, testing figures showed about 13% of those tested being positive for COVID-19. Last week, this number rose to around 17.5%. While the numbers tested are small and, because of the testing prioritization measures implemented, only imperfectly representative of the larger DC population, they are nontheless significant indicators of the direction and intensity of social spread across the city. 
> 
> best,
> 
> Steve
> 
> Steve Holtzman
> 6b05
> 
> 
> From: Holtzman, Steve (SMD 6B05) <6B05 at anc.dc.gov>
> Sent: Friday, April 3, 2020 4:00 PM
> 
> Subject: Re:  regarding proposal for residential block closures to create temporary recreation areas
>  
> Colleagues,
> 
> I'm opposed to this idea. 
> 
> Two possible alternatives, but am not sure I'm completely at ease with these either:
> Maybe there are specific blocks with unique characteristics which would minimize some of the concerns below. If such blocks are identified, it might be worth the city reviewing them as pilots. 
> Or, it might be worth trying to do something like this for a fixed hour pr two, in the late afternoon or evening on some blocks for a closure to take place.
> 
> It's mixed messaging and goes contrary to the approach taken by DC government Yesterday DPR closed all open green spaces under their control. The last Mayor's order before the current one closed fenced in spaces, school courts and fields, playgrounds but it specifically allowed open green spaces to remain open and available for use. So, the city has now changed that and ordered green spaces closed because of a concern about transmission and a judgment on whether social distancing can uniformly be expected in parks. Late last week, MPD on at least two occasions went to Lincoln Park with loudspeakers to read a warning about social distancing which used words like "severe injury and death". 
> 
> Which brings me to the next point, at least for some large areas of Capitol Hill.  Lincoln Park, Marion Park and Stanton Park, as NPS parks, are still open. I think this is terrible mixed messaging but that's what the situation is. It may change. But, I linked up with NPS this morning and, as of yet, that is their policy. FYI, Last week, I had suggested that they consider posting several simple signs on social distancing in Lincoln Park (and hopefully other NPS parks, eg, Marion and Stanton Parks).  They told me today they are in process of doing the signs but it make take a few days.
> 
> Closing off a number of blocks this way would take some level of govt agency resources in various ways. Everyone is overstretched.
> Assumedly, this would require taking the existing parked cars off the street. If it wouldn't, then I would see other problems like how do someone use their car and how do you ensure you don't create some potentially risky pedestrian/children interactions with vehicles.
> If it takes the cars off the street, then it forces people from whatever block(s) are closed to have to travel further if they have to access their vehicles parked somewhere else. Given that we're supposed to only go out for essential things, most people going to their cars are doing so for something they view as important. I haven't gone around looking at the current parking availability situation. My assumption is that a lot of residential blocks are fully parked up during the day with most people not going to work.
> Under current shutdown, barring efficient and inclusive email chains which are only available for some streets,  for many areas of Capitol Hill, there are no reliable ways to consult with the residents of a particular block(s) to elicit their views on their block being closed to traffic.
> Taking a walk for exercise on the existing sidewalks is permitted by the Mayor's Order. Granted if children were actively playing on sidewalks, social distancing would be messy, for the purposes of walks, a great many sidewalks are wide enough for people to maintain distance. For those that aren't, it's not that difficult to avoid proximity by simply waiting for someone to pass. A practice which visits to CVS's narrow aisles have recently ingrained in a lot of us.
> Accepting the value of turning a street block into an impromptu children's playground and a locus for social distancing block parties, I'm skeptical that that is a good/safe idea from a COVID-19 perspective.
>  I've been to two social distancing block parties and in each one, I noticed they ended up creating an environment where, after one or two plastic cups of wine,  a significant minority of people started unconsciously clustering close together. 
> In regard to a locus for children to play, you're creating a space akin to a playground when the city has intentionally closed playgrounds because of transmission risks. Granted, there's no equipment to wipe off and no surrounding fence. But, if you provide a space for a dozen children to play in, understandably they are going to play in it and,despite best efforts of parents, it's not unreasonable to think that kids will run across to meet their friends. In re equipment, I suspect that in some cases the closed block would end up like the old "plastic park" and toys and equipment would end up on the street and then be used by other children, also a risk.
> If the city were to selectively pick some individual blocks and close them like this, are they going to be available to everyone else in the immediate nieghborhood, living on other blocks? If they aren't, this idea is to me inequitable and a non-starter for that reason. If they are open to a wider circle then even more than mentioned above, you're just recreating the public parks and playground that the city just closed. Why would we do that? 
> I do understand and sympathize with what is driving this idea. 
> Some families have back or front yards. Some families don't. The degree of indoor space in residences varys a lot and there's not enough space under these conditions to maintain sanity for children and for adults. Some blocks have fenced- in front yards of varying sizes where neighbors can go outside and still talk to others while keeping their distance.
> We're going to be cooped up. Maybe through June. People need fresh air, exercise, a change in scenery. Kids, particularly get restless. 
> Confining people to spaces and limiting their ability to have human contact with a mix of others is not a good ecipe for mental health.
> If it's accurate that we're going to be stuck for another month or two like this (or longer), all the stresses are going to get worse.
> FYI, Mayor Bowser, in her press conference this morning, specifically confiormed, not suprisingly, that the current April 27 school reopening is not going to happen and school closures will be extended.
> 
> But, I see lots of issues/challenges with doing this.
> 
> 
> best,
> 
> 
> 
> Steve
> 
> Steve Holtzman
> 6B05
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For the latest information on the District Government’s response to COVID-19 (Coronavirus), please visit coronavirus.dc.gov.
> 
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