TheWashCycle

RFK Stadium and Parking would be better as a Recreation Area

RFK site as envisioned by NCPC

Events DC is hosting the first of two community meetings to discuss its study on the future of the RFK Stadium site this Wednesday. There are no shortage of plans for utilizing the area for something other than a sprawling parking lot, so let me add mine here. It's actually not too different from ideas that have already been pitched, like the grass roots effort to turn the northern piece into the Capital Riverside Youth Sports Park, or the NCPC's RFK Stadium Site Redevelopment Study from 2006 which stated that

NCPC planners believe the RFK site should be an environmentally friendly gateway into the monumental core. It should include a large waterfront park, with recreational fields and open space, augmented by commemorative works and connected to the surrounding neighborhoods by pedestrian and bicycle paths

My idea is to turn the area, at least the area east of 22nd street, into Kennedy Brothers National Recreation Area. The land is already owned by the National Parks Service and so keeping it in their hands is probably the easiest option, but other NRA's are managed by other organizations, so it might be possible to have DC Parks manage it - since technically it's a part of the federal government. With RFK Stadium and the Ethel Kennedy Bridge nearby, keeping the connection to the Kennedy's - with sports and recreation areas especially - would be great way to honor the family which includes a President, a Senator, a cabinet Secretary and a WWII aviator who died in action. Also, it would likely gain support from some MA Congress members. 

Fill the area with sports fields and facilities, playgrounds, appropriate open green space, expanded trails and a simple memorial. Perhaps a museum could be included too.

The space, larger than many other urban parks, would make it possible to add some more niche facilities as well. For example,  the 2012 DC Olympic bid at one time considered the RFK site for the needed velodrome (although later that was moved to Baltimore at a site TBD), but the area would be a great place to build one. Attempts have been made to build one in Long Bridge Park and more recently at Buzzard's Point, but both have fizzled. But a real velodrome - like the one in Lehigh Valley, PA or the one frequently considered outside Philadelphia, could bring regiular events to DC, while creating a unique recreation opportunity too. 

Capital Riverside Youth Sports Park

It won't be easy. The politicians seem to already support a new football stadium.

Thursday Morning Commute - Topless

Good evening

• Maybe I'm getting too close to DDOT, but I think this article (and especially it's headline) is a little over the top. The gist is that some lights on the MBT are not working. This is bad and DDOT should be working to resolve this. And it sounds like they are. " There are, again, more lights out and we have submitted this information to the company", Heather Deutsch (who manages these things) reports. She concedes that they are having trouble with their vendor. This is unfortunate, but not entirely DDOT's fault. At some point they might have to sue, which would also be unfortunate. It sounds like this was an experiment that didn't work out. That will happen and the alternative is no more experimenting, which isn't really good either. As for temporary lights under the bridge - I think that was found to be pretty expensive (there's not a good electricity source there and it would be constantly getting in the way of the bridge work). Cyclists should have headlights - even on lit trails. I'm all for lighting trails as I think it invites night time use, and improves safety (though as I read it, not security) and I think the District needs to find a near and longterm solution to this problem, but going after someone for response on Facebook - without following up with them - is a bit unfair. And the claim that DDOT said riders were on their own is completely false. She said that DDOT is working with the vendors, but if you want to do more than alert DDOT about something they already know about and are already trying to fix, you can contact the vendor. That's different.
• The DC Velodrome is dead because of real estate issues. "The site at Buzzard’s Point was a problem from the start First, it took forever to get a lease signed. Then along the way we found out they wanted rent of $30,000, which we didn’t have. The parking area we had been promised became subject to additional rent payments," explained David Butterworth, a driving force behind the velodrome." It's a crying shame they can't just set this up in the RFK parking lot. 
• Grace Episcopal Church in Georgetown is upset that 3 parking spaces in front of their church were removed for a CaBi station, but Topher at Georgetown Metropolitan points out that the CaBi station serves 171 trips a day and that it's unlikely that three parking space match that. 
• Bicycling is on the agenda Monday at DC's Environment, Public Works and Transportation Committe hearing at 11am. Agenda: Bicycle infrastructure, pedestrian and bicycle safety. (Of Course on Wednesday you can stick around to talk about Topless Bars, if that's something you're more interested in). Update: the bicycle hearing has been postponed.
• The Springfield Mall is being redeveloped and part of that project includes "improved pedestrian and bicycle connections to the Franconia-Springfield Metro and Virginia Railway Express station."  A trail system centered at the Metro station could follow the railroad south to Newington, east from there along the abandoned railroad to Ft. Belvoir and then to many locations following the power lines in the area. And from Springfiled Mall it's not far to Lake Accontik which has trails too.
• Towson to get a loop of bike lanes and sharrows. 
• Ghost bike erected in Fairfax County.
• Electric bikes are good and cyclists and pedestrians spend more money shopping.