Fort Dupont, a park atop a hill east of the Anacostia River, represents different things to Washingtonians.
For Civil War buffs, it's one of the forts circling the city built to withstand Rebel assaults, similar to Fort Reno and Fort Stevens.
For families seeking a respite from summer heat, the park is a 375-acre haven.
But for thousands of kids across the region who had hoped to use a tiny corner of the park to play baseball and ice skate, Fort Dupont is an example of injustice brought to us by the U.S. National Park Service.
The feds run the park, just as they control Rock Creek and our major downtown squares, from Franklin to McPherson. For some reason known only to bureaucrats, the National Park Service has been trying to close down the ice rink at Fort Dupont since 1996; now they are standing in the way of a baseball academy along Ely Street SE.
"The Park Service's reaction to anything the District wants to do on park land is 'Just say no,' " says an attorney who has tried to make headway with the feds. "The longer they say no, the more they can wear the District down."
"The Park Service's reaction to anything the District wants to do on park land is 'Just say no,' " says an attorney who has tried to make headway with the feds. "The longer they say no, the more they can wear the District down."
The shenanigans and foot-dragging at Fort Dupont are nothing less than egregious.
For more than a decade Friends of Fort Dupont has been trying to expand the ice rink. It now serves 10,000 kids each year. They come from swank streets of Chevy Chase and McLean across town to Capital Hill and Anacostia. They come to compete and learn the game. The Friends of Fort Dupont wants to double the rink's size and create a place where District kids can excel. They have the money, the plans, the teams.
The Park Service has refused to permit the rink to expand. The plan seemed about to become a reality under Bush Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne. At a meeting in Kempthorne's office, Council Chairman Vince Gray and others made their case, and Kempthorne gave his approval. One of the activists said that despite Kempthorne's approval, local bureaucrats would scuttle the plan.
Peter May, the NPS official who essentially controls parkland in the national capital region, jumped out of his chair. "Not true," he said. Kempthorne left office before the deal was approved; May and others stalled it. Very true. May, who sits on the National Capital Planning Commission and the D.C. Zoning Commission, wields immense power behind the scenes.
"He's the person who says yes or no to any projects involving federal land," says an activist. "He usually says no."
That seems to be the case with the baseball academy promised for the corner of Fort Dupont near the rink. The Lerner family, through its foundation, has ponied up the cash to build the academy and the fields. Mayor Adrian Fenty and the local political establishment loves it. The Park Service has done nothing but stall.
Peter May and the NPS need to get out of the way and let District kids play ball.
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