Ms. Laura Durham
Department of Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities
1108 Jefferson Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
March 27, 2009
Subject: Review of the City’s Findings and Possible Immediate Actions for Fort Ward Park
Dear Laura,
This letter is in response to the City’s request for comments on the presentation made on Wednesday March 18, 2009 by Kirk Kincannon, Director of the Recreation, Parks & Cultural Activities Department, and Lance Mallamo, Director of the Office of Historic Alexandria. I appreciate the effort the City is making to work with the residents on the future of Fort Ward Park. I encourage you to continue to work with us to reach agreement on how best to protect, manage, use and interpret the park and in doing so give the community back its history.
Although the remarks by Mr. Mallamo and Mr. Kincannon on the 18th were positive and promising the written recommendations do not reflect the array of public comments shared with and submitted to the City. The “Possible Immediate Actions” that are presented and are included on the City’s website offer very few solutions to the problems that the public has identified. Frankly the groups and individuals I have been communicating with fear that the problems we have brought to you over the last two years will continue and the City’s idea to promote the park for non-historic special events will resurface.
We hope that City of Alexandria government and elected officials will further review the many letters and comments from the public comment and develop more substantive possible actions for Fort Ward Park. We also hope that the City will complete the task of removing vehicles, equipment and debris from the maintenance and nursery area. We were glad to see the vehicles and equipment being removed last week. However, earlier today I noticed that automobiles were once again parked next to the graves of Clara Adams and her husband and that maintenance trucks from the City and contract services were again using the yard.
The City’s ongoing concerns about funding and staff time are obviously real problems that limit your ability to do what is needed to protect and manage Fort Ward Park effectively. Perhaps this economic climate is the right time to look at the park as more like a network of interlocked public-private partnerships. More than ever now is the time for the City, in cooperation with partners, to establish a vision, prepare an action plan and then seek help from the broader community to make it a reality. We believe that within the broader community are people with a whole set of talents that can make things happen. Such a partner-centric approach may represent a radical departure from the way that Fort ward park has been managed but it offers the best hope for the future.
The following are my comments on possible immediate actions that should be included in the City’s proposal for Fort Ward Park.
1. The Mayor and City Council should publicly announce that the City’s October 16, 2008 Fort Ward Park Facility Study and Recommendations be dropped from consideration and the City will continue to work with the public to develop an action plan for Fort Ward Park.
2. To help complete the action plan, and assist with implementation of the plan, the City in cooperation with the Friends of Ft. Ward Park should Create a Fort Ward Park Citizens Advisory Committee.
The Advisory Committee should be directed to continue to work with the City and engage the public over the next 60-90 days in a collaborative process to develop the action plan for Fort Ward Park. Extra time will provide for discussions and consensus agreement to be reached on park issues including noise, alcohol, park uses, management of crowds, and master planning. Once the action plan is prepared in draft it should be presented to the public for final review and comments. After a public review period and final revisions the action plan can be submitted to the Mayor and City Council for consideration and approval.
3. The City should move the maintenance and nursery yard operations, and their buildings, materials, compost piles, and vehicles, to another City-owned property. All city and contract vehicles should be restricted from this area.
In addition, the City should place signs near the existing grave sites and likely burial areas to recognize those who are buried within the park. Arrangements should be made for the City to allow the families of those buried within the park to be able to display wreaths on or near grave sites.
3. The Mayor and City Council, working with the City Manager should add $150,000 in City funds in the 2010 budget for cleaning the maintenance and nursery yard, and beginning archeological and historical research and surveys in 2010 to locate African American graves and structures.
The ground within this area should be seeded or covered with sod, and regularly maintained, until the City’s Office of Archeology can their surveys and studies and develop a stewardship plan for their conservation, protection and interpretation.
4. Using the funds noted in item #3. the City should immediately provide temporary protection for the Jackson Family grave area, which is identified in the City’s General Layout [Plan] for Fort Ward Park dated March 1965. This temporary protection should continue until the City‘s Office of Archeology can study and survey the grave sites and develop a stewardship plan for their conservation, protection and interpretation.
5. The City should provide funding within 2011 budget and beyond to the City’s Archeological Office for archeological and historical studies and surveys for the Maintenance Yard and Nursery area; the Jackson Family grave site; and other areas where African American descendants have lived, worshiped, were educated and been buried.
6. The Mayor and City Council, with the City Manager, should add funds to the 2010 budget for the Fort Ward Park Museum to develop interpretive displays, including walking tours, on the people and activities of the pre-and post Civil War periods, within the Museum and outside within the park. These displays should be completed in time for the start of the sesquicentennial celebration of the Civil War in 2011.
7. The City should evaluate the option of consolidating the primary management of the Fort Ward Historical Park under the leadership of the Office of Historic Alexandria, with maintenance and visitor services provided by Recreation, Parks & Cultural Activities, and, or, a private contractor. The historic resources of the park, as well as the inappropriate management decisions regarding the protection of those resources and public involvement, warrant consideration of a different approach to the management of this park. If approved, this change could be announced as part of the City’s 2011 sesquicentennial celebration of the Civil War.
We appreciate your willingness to work with the residents of the City and other park, Civil War, African American, and historic interests to protect, conserve, manage and maintain Fort Ward Park for the education and enjoyment of this important historical park.
Sincerely,
Glenn
J. Glenn Eugster
4022 Ellicott Street
Alexandria, VA 22304
Cc. Mayor & City Council, City Manager, Kincannon, Mallamo
No comments:
Post a Comment