New Columbia Heights reports on the recent community meeting about parks in the neighborhood. In the center of the block from Lamont to Park and Sherman to 11th is a large open area, currently “used as an illegal dumping and parking area.” Councilmember Graham is working on getting the city to buy the property and forgive back taxes to transfer it to Washington Parks & People.

From the minutes:

According to Ian Tyndal of WP&P, Steve Coleman and he will manage this process and the plan is to create paid parking which will fund upkeep of the remainder of the space, which will be community green space TBD.

Is a paid lot the best way to raise revenue for a park? Wouldn’t this park primarily serve neighborhood uses rather than people driving in from far away? Besides, there’s already an enormous garage two blocks west with a whole level that’s never been used. What makes us think more parking here will raise much money?

With scarce public land, maybe the city should simply be paying for this park. Or what about a few “alley” dwelling units? Those would have the added advantage of creating “eyes on the street” and more residents for the park and the local businesses. What do you think is the best use of this land?

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Tagged: cat:public_spaces, columbia heights, dc, jim graham, parking, parks, public spaces

David Alpert created Greater Greater Washington in 2008 and was its executive director until 2020. He formerly worked in tech and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco Bay, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He lives with his wife and two children in Dupont Circle.