Fort Ward History Work Group Activities for 2012 and 2013 November 5, 2013

Fort Ward History Work Group Activities for 2012 and 2013

November 5, 2013

Ongoing:

1. Outreach:

A. Fort Ward HIstory Work Group outreach through Fort Ward Observer; Fort Ward and Seminary African American Descendants Society, Inc., Fort Ward Observer; e-mails; and media.

B. Media interviews: WAMU; Alexandria Gazette; Alexandria Times; Washington Times; W-NBC-4; and Washington Post.

C. Fort Ward History Information Access  for the work group, public, and Advisory Group through Facebook pages, Blog and e-mail, documents, with selected photos, made available to hundreds of persons.

E. Papers and presentations by Adrienne Terrell Washington, Mary Furlough; and Frances Colbert Terrell.

2. Research

A. Assisted Office of Historic Alexandria with Fort Ward Park interpretive signs.

B. Prepared a draft report on the Creation of Fort Ward Park.

C. Preparing a report on Fort Ward’s Lost Graves: Who Speaks for the Dead?  Due to be released in February 2014.

D. Conducting oral history interviews of descendant family members and former city staff.

E. Participation in the meetings of the Fort Ward Park & Museum Advisory Group

F. Regular monitoring of city and user activities within Fort Ward Park and surrounding area

3. Meetings and Selected Events:

May 5, 2012 Fort Ward HIstory Work Group Meeting

June 2, 2012 “We Are Still Here” Event at Fort Ward Park  ## participants

July 7, 2012 Fort Ward HIstory Work Group Meeting

August 28, 2012 Press release from Office of Historic Alexandria on the completion of archaeology research at Fort Ward Park. 

September 8, 2012 Fort Ward History Work Group Meeting

September 22, 2012  The Call of Freedom Forum, co-sponsored with the Oakland Baptist Church, Fort Ward and Seminary Descendants Society, Inc., with  speakers C. R. Gibbs, Bill Dickinson and Ron Chase.  

September 28, 2012 Meeting with John Taylor Chapman

October 20, 2012 DC Historic Studies Conference presentation by Adrienne Washington and Mary Furlough

October 2, 2012 Mayoral Debate and City Council Candidate Forum

October 6, 2012 Fort Ward History Work Group Meeting (postponed)

October 10, 2012  Oral history interview with Elizabeth Douglass and Frances Terrell

October 2012 Participation in the Video “Mayor Euille Today” on Fort Ward Park

November 3, 2012 Participation in the Office of Historic Alexandria open house on Fort Ward artifacts.

November 2012 to August 2013 Members were asked to participate in the private effort to save the American Legion Building/ Carver School.

February 6, 2013 Meeting with Councilman Justin Wilson.

February 2013 Rosenwald Forum (postponed by the Alexandria Historic Foundation).

March 8, 2013 Oakland Baptist Church Cemetery storm water meeting.

March 11, 2013  Meeting with Oakland Baptist Church leaders re: storm water runoff in the Oakland Baptist Church Cemetery.

March 26, 2013 Meeting with Transportation & Environmental Services, Office of Historic Alexandria and the Oakland Baptist Church re: storm water runoff in the Oakland Baptist Church Cemetery.

April 18, 2013 Meeting with Mayor, City Manager, Office of Historic Alexandria, Transportation & Environmental Services, Recreation  Department, Oakland Baptist Church, and others,  to discuss storm water in Oakland Baptist Church Cemetery.

September 2013 Fort Ward “Prayer Walk” to commemorate the lost graves of Fort Ward (postponed by the Oakland Baptist Church and the Descendants Society)

October 31, 2013 Office of Historic Alexandria announces a November 16, 2013 meeting to share a report “Finding The Fort: A History of an African American Neighborhood in Northern Virginia, 1860s - 1960s”.

Why Pit Neighbors Against Neighbors?

Letters

Alexandria Gazette Packet

July 2, 2014

Why Pit Neighbors

Against Neighbors?

To the Editor:

My name is Frances Colbert-Terrell and I

have read with great interest the stories you

have written and the letters you have published

on the City of Alexandria’s proposal to allow

sporting events at night at T.C. Williams High

School.

I am president of the Seminary Civic Association,

an area of 29 homes adjacent to the

football field and Quaker Lane. We are the 4th

generation of African Americans whose original

community of approximately 61 homes was

completely decimated by the city for the construction

of T.C. Williams High School. It has

often been lamented that of all of the property

in the City of Alexandria during the early ‘60s,

the Civil Rights era, the only place the city

could find to place the new high school was

right in the middle of this viable, self-sustaining

community of homeowners, which, by the

way, had been established during the mid to

late 1800s.

And if that wasn’t horrific enough, we were

still reeling from the destruction of “The Fort”

community. That community also of African

Americans which had settled on the deserted

military fort shortly after the Civil War, had

begun establishing home ownership in 1877.

They lived there until the 1950-60s when the

homeowners were kicked off of their property

by, what else, eminent domain for the construction

of the historic Fort Ward Park and Museum.

That community was an extension of our

own Seminary community.

Our community of real estate tax paying citizens,

extending from Johnson’s Lane, a few

yards north of Bishop and Quaker Lane back

to Chinquapin, crossing King over to Braddock

was downsized by the city from again 61 to 29

houses on Quaker Lane and in a cul-de-sac on

Woods Lane bordering T.C. Williams. Why just

29 houses from such a large area? Well several

of those homeowners were seniors who

had already paid off their homes

and were no longer in a position

to be able to take on a new mortgage.

They were forced to move

out of the community as the cost

of a new “urban renewal” home

was higher than what the city had

paid for the demolition of their

homes. Back then, coming out of

a time period when ownership of

anything was impossible to them,

it was a code of honor for families

to pass on their property to their

heirs debt free. And to justify this

mass destruction, which of course,

was done for the greater good of

the community as a whole, the city

placed the derogatory label of

“Mudtown” on our community

which had heretofore been known

as simply Seminary. Mudtown to

us is synonymous to the “N-word.”

The Seminary community has

made many sacrifices for the public

good. We have given a lot in

support of public education in Alexandria.

In fact, in 1927 William Wood

whose family still resides in our

community today actually gave a

portion of the land where TC sits

today for the establishment of the

first African American Rosenwald

Elementary School.

As most may know, with the construction

of the school in 1965,

there was an agreement between

the school, city and our community

that no lights would be placed

on any athletic field in consideration

of the quality of life of the

community. In 2004, TC was enlarged,

and that agreement was

respected.

Now, city leaders are attempting

to do an about face; to break their

word; to renege on their promise,

to put up lights for night sporting

events. Frankly, the location of the

football field does not lend itself,

and has never lent itself, to continuous

day and night use for football

and other sports. Actually, we

have no problem with the students

having night football games in Alexandria,

but rather than renege

on a promise city leaders should

explore the use of more suitable

sites for a day-night sports complex.

George Washington Middle

School and Ben Brenman Park

seem to be alternatives. When I

was in high school, GW and Parker

Gray both had night football

games. Unfortunately Parker Gray

school and field were removed.

We do empathize with the students

being denied Friday night

games at TC, but lights on the stadium

and the ensuing challenges

those continuous lights would

present, including noise, traffic

congestion, crowd behavior, and

litter, would have an adverse and

detrimental impact on our community.

For those who adamantly support

lights, and consider us selfish

and opposed to change consider

this, the students are inconvenienced

for four years; our sacrifice

would be for a life time. City

leaders need to be good neighbors

and work with long-standing communities

rather than force decisions

in that pit residents against

each other.

Frances Colbert Terrell

Alexandria

Fort Ward’s Lost Graves: Roots of Unrest CIty Departments Revert to Old Ways

Fort Ward’s Lost Graves: Roots of Unrest

CIty Departments Revert to Old Ways

City of Alexandria department directors have typically done what they want to do with Fort Ward HIstoric Park for the last fifty years.  Civil servants often believe that they know best and they are paid to make decisions for the areas and services they provide to Alexandria residents.  For example, over the years the Recreation Department removed grave stones and markers, filled burial areas, destroyed public records and made decisions within the park without city and Commonwealth permits or public notice and input.  Many of these actions had a direct and adverse impact on historic, cultural and archaeological resources, adjacent homeowners, and the descendants of those families that lived on what is now parkland before the city’s decision to make private lands public.

Over a longer period city officials, as well as department heads, have taken, or are proposing to take, a series of actions which targeted African American communities at Fort Ward, in the Chinquapin/ Seminary area and, more recently in the Woods Lane community.  Armed with “the facts” and hiding behind the notion of the greater public good, city elected officials and department heads targeted neighborhoods for schools and athletic fields forcing people to give-up homes they had paid-off so that they had to purchase new ones at a higher price.  Other proposals calling for highway by-passes and athletic field lights within or adjacent to remaining homes creates continued uncertainty and further erodes what little trust the residents in these areas have for city leaders.   

After years of simmering problems at Fort Ward Historic Park bubbled-over when city officials, without permits, public notice or public hearings, gave their approval to place garbage dumpsters and city maintenance vehicles on top of African American burial areas and next to the Oakland Baptist Church Cemetery and the homes of Marlboro Estates.  As city leaders turned a deaf-ear toward their residents concerns the Oakland Church leaders and those from Marlboro Estates formed a loosely-knit coalition to bring more attention to the park’s problems, seek more civic engagement in city decision-making, and prepare a management plan for the park and the Fort Ward Museum.

Media stories and public input at city sponsored meetings eventually managed to turn the heads of City Council members and they took action to create a Fort Ward Park and Museum Ad-hoc Stakeholder Advisory Group to make recommendations.  The group met for nearly two years, produced a report and recommended that it be reappointed to work with the city to prepare a management plan.  City Council responded favorably and reappointed an improved version of the group and provided funds to find graves, deal with water-runoff problems and prepare a draft management plan for their review and possible approval.

For over five years the advisory group worked with city department heads and their staff, other city commissions and advisory groups, local historians, interested citizens, neighborhood and church leaders and consultants.  A major part of the discussions and planning work was aimed integrating decision-making between city department, between the city and stakeholders and between the city and the surrounding and larger community.  Considerable progress has been made as everyone involved in the process has had a chance to share their views as well as hear the views of others.  Although not directly addressed an undercurrent existed in most meetings that reflected race relations and broadening the message at the park to include civil rights with the story of the Civil War.

The latest planning effort took longer than most hoped that it would and the process of meetings, led at first by advisory groups members and later by city officials and their consultants, frustrated many government and private sector leaders.  Throughout the hundreds of meetings that went on over the course of the Fort Ward effort many people outside government felt that department heads were resistant to sharing decision-making with community interests.  Certain promises, made publicly by city department heads to work with the community and the descendant families of the Fort Ward African American community, eventually were pulled-back as the process slowly moved toward completion.

During the last meeting of the advisory group, on August 13, 2014, three members expressed their lack of trust in the City of Alexandria.  “ The draft plan doesn’t include any guarantees that graves won’t be destroyed.  I have had a problem with the process that has been going on.  We’ve been told one thing and something else has been done.  We don’t trust the city to consult with descendant families before they take action.  There have been too many instances when things were done without consulting with us.  We need to be sure that the work [to find family graves] has been done.”, said Adrienne Terrell Washington, advisory group member and President of the Fort Ward and Seminary African American Descendants Society, Inc.

In response to Adrienne’s comments, which weren’t new to the advisory group’s discussions, Sharon Annear, the group’s representative from the Seminary Hill Association, Inc. suggested that an administrative process be developed to to clarify public notice and consultations with the descendants.  She suggested that Ms. Terrell Washington and Ms. Laura Durham, the advisory group’s liaison from the Department of Recreation, develop the draft procedure. Ms. Durham suggested that “ a draft document, a best practice of how we can work together, be developed and made part of  a memo of understanding”.  The document would be attached to the memorandum.  Elisabeth Lardner, a consultant to the Recreation Department, suggested that this protocol would be part of the Memo of Understanding between city agencies with responsibilities at Fort Ward and would be made an appendix to the draft management plan.

Following some other discussions at the meeting a motion was made to approve the draft management plan, with the consultation protocol as well as other parts of the document, and forwarded on to City Council for review and possible approval.  For all practical purposes the Fort Ward Advisory Group’s work was done and it ceased to exist with the adjournment of the meeting.

The final advisory group meeting was followed by a public meeting with three other city advisory commissions on September 10, 2014.  Leaders from the Fort Ward advisory group met with those from the Park and Recreation Commission, Environmental Commission and the Historic Alexandria Resources Commission to go over the approved draft plan.  Group, commission and city department members discussed the draft plan’s Drainage and History Reports.   J. Lance Mallamo, Director of Historic Alexandria stressed that the Drainage Plan and History Report were not required to be in the management plan and there was no mandate to include them.   Striking down the idea of integration Mr. Mallamo said,  “These [reports] really aren’t relevant to the plan.

Chuck Ziegler, the last of three different members to serve as chair of the Fort Ward Advisory Group quickly countered, “We voted [to approve] the management plan with the History and Drainage Reports.

On October 6, 2014 in response to the Office of HIstoric Alexandria’s implementation of the Drainage Plan within the Old Oakland Baptist Church Graveyard,  I contacted the Fort Ward Advisory Group liaison, Laura Durham and asked her if she and Ms. Terrell-Washington had developed the consultation protocol and whether the plan had been approved by City Council.  Without a reply from the city, on November 12, 2014 I made a request to the City through the Freedom of Information Act.  Yesterday I received a  draft document, for a fee of $26.00,  dated August 2014, entitled Fort Ward Park and Museum Area Interdepartmental Memorandum of Understanding Guidelines for Ground Disturbance, including Process and Procedures to Protect Cultural Resources.  No information was provided on how this document was prepared, although Ms. Durham did not reply to my request for information and Ms. Terrell-Washington indicated she had no knowledge of the guidelines.  In addition, no information was provided on the status of the approval of the plan, although city staff and managers, as well as Council members, informally indicate that the draft plan’s proposal for an earth mound/ drainage berm on the Old Oakland Church Graveyard is now underway.  No one working on the earth mound/ berm says “If it goes in”, they say “When it goes in”.

The Fort Ward Park and Museum Draft Management Plan is voluminous and reflects considerable effort on the part of the members of the advisory group, consultants and the public.  Unfortunately actions speak louder than written words and recent efforts by the city to return to ham-fisted, paternal decisions under the cover of darkness dilutes whatever trust was built during the multi-year advisory group effort.  As in the past, it appears that city leaders still believe they know best and that they have authority to make independent decisions in Fort Ward Historic Park.  Despite thousands of hours of discussion they continue to resist sharing decision-making with the public they serve no matter what the cost to the city in terms of time and money.  Surprisingly they forget recent Fort Ward history which reveals that community interests saved the land from development and helped to support the creation of a park.  It seems that a park that tells the story of the Civil War and African Americans journey to civil rights requires an approach that is committed to government leaders and citizens working together to find ways to agree, as well as address moral and legal issues.  The best ideas for Fort Ward Park and Museum aren’t god ideas until everyone thinks they are.  Like any civil war, this is going to take awhile.

J. Glenn Eugster, 

Fort Ward Observer

November 11, 2014

Fort Ward’s Lost Graves: Who Knew? Who Knows?

Fort Ward’s Lost Graves:  Who Knew?  Who Knows?

Fort Ward Observer

J. Glenn Eugster

December 9, 2014

The City of Alexandria’s Council approved a process to develop a management plan for Fort Ward Historic Park in 2011.  This action was taken in response to the recommendations of an advisory group appointed by the City to look at various problems, issues and matters of concern that had been brought to their attention by residents of the City of Alexandria, VA.    The first report used input from a series of public meetings that the city held in 2009.  At that time a large number of participants indicated the need to find African American graves and burial areas within the park.  Many residents of the community that lived on the land before it became a park were buried in family graveyards.

Council took action on the initial recommendations and called for the advisory group to continue while providing three city agencies with funds to prepare a management plan and, on a short-term basis, address the search for graves as well as to better manage water running off of parkland into the adjacent Oakland Baptist Church Cemetery. 

The discussions about the unidentified graves in Fort Ward Historic Park have gone on for more than five years.  City officials have resisted most of the efforts made by the descendants of the Fort Ward community to help locate graves, family burial areas, gravestones and markers beyond those known burial areas in the park.  Comments made by city employees publicly and privately have created a dialogue that has been illusive at best and adversarial at worst.  Some of the comments that city managers and staff have made include:

The people who lived in the Fort Ward community were squatters.........

We didn’t know there were graves in the park.......

We began looking for graves in 2009 when community interest surfaced........

If there were graves they were moved........

We don’t remember where the graves were moved to..........

We didn’t think people cared about the graves......

No one remembers were the graves and grave markers were.........

The gravestones probably were discarded at the landfill.........

We couldn’t find the city correspondence related to family graves.........

City staff didn’t move the grave markers or cover grave areas........

We will remove the gravel that was placed on top of areas where graves are likely to help with the search......

We won’t remove the gravel that was placed on top of areas where graves are likely.....

We didn’t budget funds for looking for graves.........

We need factual evidence..........

Some of the descendants we interviewed are older and their memories are fuzzy..........

We have brought closure for the families of those buried in the park........

We are professionals and have done our work to the best of our abilities.......

The Oakland Baptist Church Old Grave Yard is to be managed as a sacred area........

As a result the draft management plan, which will be presented to City Council on December 9, 2014, contains little new information about unmarked graves and burial areas within the park.  Although staff of the Office of Historic Alexandria has done considerable archaeology work in and around the three known grave areas within the park--Old Oakland Baptist Church Grave Yard, Clara and Robert Adams burial area, and the Jackson Family Cemetery,  city leaders have resisted efforts to identify additional graves and burial areas.  For example, more than 1,100 test-pits were dug by city staff to search for historical artifacts while the city managers of this work admitted “we weren’t looking for graves”.

Fort Ward, the community and the historic park, is a complex place.  Although created as a historic park and designated by the City of Alexandria, Commonwealth of Virginia and the U.S Department of the Interior on to the National Register of Historic Places, many city leaders view the park as a recreation area.  Past and recent decisions at the park also reflect expressions of latent racism toward those who lived on the land, as well descendant family members.  The lack of respect for past and current city residents has grown into a deep lack of trust in city leaders.    For example, despite City Council’s commitment to “Civic Engagement” and the preparation of a draft park management plan, city leaders continue to take actions at Fort Ward without meaningful input from the community.  A history report on the Fort Ward African American Community was prepared without the input of the descendants until they complained to the Mayor.  Plans to build a earth-berm to better manage water runoff from parkland are being implemented within known and likely burial areas despite repeated concerns voiced by the descendants, Seminary Civic Association and Oakland Baptist Church leaders.

Most recently Lance Mallamo, Director of the Office of Historic Alexandria (OHA) has taken several actions which further erode trust in his office and the city in general.  For example, when the Fort Ward effort began there was considerable discussion about city staff working with descendant family members to compile information for the plan.  He continually resisted working cooperatively with the Fort Ward and Seminary African American Descendants Society, Inc., a group established for the purpose of assisting the city’s efforts at Fort Ward Historic Park.  Over time he diminished the value of conducting oral history interviews with descendant family members telling the Mayor, City Manager and others that the elderly descendants with first-hand knowledge of the park have “fuzzy memories” that couldn’t be trusted.

In September 16, 2014 Mr. Mallamo sent a written message explaining the status of his office’s efforts to interview city staff to learn more about the location of graves, family burial areas and grave markers.  Interestingly his note came over a month after the Fort Ward Park and Museum Advisory Group voted to approve the draft management plan and send it to City Council for consideration and approval, or other action.  He wrote, 

“So far we’ve received approval from only one person on the city employee list for a taped interview, Wanda Dowell, former director of Fort Ward Museum, and that interview was completed in November 2013.  That tape is in the process of being transcribed and once that is done, a first draft  will be submitted to Ms. Dowell for her review and requested edits.  Once the final draft is prepared it will await a further review and approval  of the speaker before it is  posted to OHA’s website.  This is a  time consuming process, and I would not expect it to be complete until the winter months of 2015 at the earliest.  Our next interview is planned with Jean Federico though a firm date has not yet been set.

Having personally spoken to several people I recall from the list, including Ms. Dowell, Ms. Jean Federico, Ms. Susan Cumbey, Mr. Wally  Owen, Mr. Steve Tompkins, as well as myself, I can confirm that all of these persons have indicated that they have no direct knowledge or insight of graves or burial areas at Fort Ward Park, other than those still marked by a gravestone or recently surveyed by OHA”.

Mr. Mallamo’s message is troubling for a number of reasons.   First, it reflects no sense of urgency in completing research work that was to be included, and used, in the draft park management plan.  Second, it indicates that no one from the city knew, or knows, about Fort Ward’s graves and burial areas--or cares to share what they know.   Third, it contradicts factual research that was collected from public files and and interviews, provided to OHA,  which indicates that a number of past and current city employees knew, or know, of graves, grave markers and burial areas. 

Finally, despite the recommendations of Dr. Pamela Cressey,  then the City Archaeologist, OHA made no effort during the management planning period to interview other descendant family members with first-hand knowledge of these areas.  More than trying to work with people that could help the city develop a better management plan, Mr. Mallamo seemed content to avoid any information that would lead to the location of additional graves and burial areas.  In fact, city officials based their search for lost graves on those areas where graveyards had been identified by the city more than five decades ago.    

In addition to resisting collaborative input from knowledgeable African Americans Mr. Mallamo  also resisted the use of cadaver dogs and, or,  law enforcement officials, to find the bodies that remain in the park.  In some ways, after initial archaeology work done by the Ottery Group indicated that there were many more graves to be found, Mr. Mallamo, either on his own or in concert with other city leaders,  seems to have decided that he knew all that he wanted to know about burials in the park.

The draft management plan which goes to City Council on December 9, 2014 lacks information that is critical for decision-making at the park.  The question of “Who knew? and Who knows?” about Fort Ward’s lost graves remains.  Community research has revealed that many city government employees, consultants to the city, descendant family members, and others knew, or know, information about the graves.    All of these individuals, given the opportunity to share what they know about these graves, grave stones and family burial areas, can help city officials locate those who are buried in the park.  Only with this information will the draft management plan for Fort Ward be complete.   Only with this information will conflicts between burial areas and future park development be avoided.

Ways to Improve the Draft Recommendations for Fort Ward Park. November 17, 2010

City of Alexandria Recreation Department

Attn: Ms. Laura Durham

1108 Jefferson Street

Alexandria, Virginia 22314

                                       November 17, 2010

Dear Ms. Durham,

Thanks for the opportunity to review and comment on the November 1, 2010 draft Recommendations regarding the use and management of Fort Ward Historical Park prepared by the Fort Ward Park Advisory Group.  

My comments are intended to suggest ways to make the Advisory Group’s recommendations more accurate and increase the chance that they are adopted and implemented by City managers and elected officials.  I fully realize that reviewing a document of this type is far, far easier than actually writing it.  The time and effort of the City managers and the Advisory Group in preparing this draft is recognized and appreciated.  My general and specific comments are as follows:

Ways to Improve the Draft Recommendations for Fort Ward Park

1.  Get Shorter & Tighten Up: The document is far, far, too long.  It is duplicative and redundant in several sections and the information it communicates would be much more effective if the report were edited, made more concise, and illustrated with photos.  The Executive Summary and the Concluding Recommendations seem to be unnecessarily duplicative making the priority messages confusing.  While reading the report I was never sure whether I was reading something new or the same text in a new location.

2.  Be Clear About the Report Purpose: The document indicates that this is a “Draft for Public Discussion”.  However, despite the comments made by Advisory Group members at their meetings about their desire to hold public meetings on this document, there are no public meetings scheduled and no opportunities for public discussion.

The decision by the Advisory Group not to present and discuss the recommendations with the communities that the park serves is troubling given that public concerns were sparked by the 2008 plan that the City and the Parks & Recreation Commission did without public input. Discussion and dialogue about the plan’s recommendations would benefit all.

3.  Add Context: The report needs succinct background information to give the reader context for the narrative to 

follow.  For example, there is little information on the 

creation of Fort Ward Park in terms of the intent of City Council and the various perspectives that Alexandria’s community leader’s, elected officials and courts have noted while discussing the need for and purpose of the park.  

Another example of the lack of context is the City’s intent in developing the park for the stated purposes.  The document would lead the reader to believe that a master plan has not been prepared for Fort Ward Park.  However, the City Council approved and funded a General Plan for the park in 1962.  The Department of Transportation & Environmental Services prepared a Master Plan for the park in 1979.  The City Council applied for a received state and federal historic register status in 1982. Each of these documents may not fit the current definition of what a park master plan is but they do show the earliest approved visions for Fort Ward Park.  

In addition, the report does not indicate that a great deal of the public’s concern about the City’s management of the park was sparked by the October 16, 2008 facility study and recommendations for Fort Ward Park.  This document was prepared and approved by the City Recreation Department and the Parks & Recreation Advisory Commission without public input or basic information about the natural, historic and cultural resources which the park was created to protect.

More context is also needed about the issues and problems that motivated City Council to convene the Fort Ward Park Advisory Group.  The report fails to mention the petition that was submitted to the City Council in October 2007 by residents who live adjacent, and in close proximity, to the park having to do with crime, solid waste dumpsters, maintenance of the park’s intermittent stream, and vegetative management of the park’s boundaries.  Moreover, there is no mention of the concerns regarding graves, solid waste dumpsters, stormwater, and the protection of the park’s archaeology and history, which were raised by citizens and members of the Seminary Hill Association, Inc. at a City Council Public Meeting in December of 2008.

The report also fails to provide the reader with background on the City’s failure to comply with established city ordinances and regulations related to land use changes, noise, archaeological resources, and soil erosion controls, related to new park development and uses.

Finally, the report makes no mention of the fact that City leaders, despite repeated public statements to the contrary, was aware of African American graves within the park and in certain 

areas chose to ignore their presence.

4.  Clarify Assumptions: The readers of the report would benefit if there was a succinct section of the introduction that clarified the assumptions that the Advisory Group, and the City for that matter, are operating under in the review of Fort Ward Park.  These could include: the role of the communities in helping create this park; justifications used by the City in legal actions and federal grants to acquire and develop the park; and provisions of the National Register of Historic Places designation.  A list of assumptions could also include the key provisions in Resolution No. 2349.

5.  Show Conviction: The executive summary outlines a list of priority actions for City Council and City department managers to consider.  First of all, in many places in the report--including this section, the Advisory Group’s recommendations are “soft”.  The Advisory Group is charged to make recommendations and yet in the Executive Summary they suggest that elected officials “consider” these ideas.  The words are seemingly without conviction and should be given backbone if they are to have any chance of being acted on.  Anticipatory compromise and, or, business as usual is not an option if the desired result is what Council approved in their charge to the Group.

6.  Set Priorities:  The report would be more effective if it focused more on different levels of priorities.  At a minimum what the Advisory Group recommended needs to be put in priority order.  As I’ve listened to most of the Group’s public discussions, and the presentations of the department heads, I’ve learned that the archaeological work will begin the week of November 15, 2010. Recent meetings have revealed the following information.

First, on November 6, 2010 Lance Mallamo, Director of the Office of Historic Alexandria, told the members of the Fort Ward History Work Group that he does not believe that there will be any new funds in this budget year for archaeology at Fort Ward.  He said that he talked with people in the City Manager's Office and they want to see the results of the Ground Penetrating Radar work before putting more money toward this task.  Mr. Mallamo said that he would try to use some of the National Park Service "Save America's Treasures" grant to do additional archaeology and research on Fort Ward Park.

Second, on November 11, 2010 at the Fort Ward Park Advisory Group Meeting Mr. Mallamo told the members of the group and the public that the initial results of the archaeological research will be available within the next month. This work will 

determine if the use of Ground Penetrating Radar has been 

successful in identifying graves in the park. He indicated that if the Radar technology is successful he expects that it will be used to look at approximately 80% of the park in 2012. 

However, if the Radar technology is not successful in identifying graves he and his staff will look at other alternatives for identifying graves in the park.

Third, on November 10, 2010 Rich Baier, Director of Transportation & Environmental Services (T&ES) wrote in a memo that, “The [City's] Stormwater Project list contains 35k [$35,000 this year] for stormwater field work and or design [for Fort Ward Park]. The money is still there awaiting the development of a plan which takes into account the Office of Historic Alexandria and RPCA [Recreation Department] needs. Infrastructure and especially drainage improvements must be designed into some overall plan or they risk being removed as the park is improved according to a master plan. As noted in my May presentation to the advisory group, some general field work has been done by in house staff. Nothing major but review of historic aerials, field review of drainage along houses and condition review of water courses. All is to get ready to kick off work as a part of the park plan effort. In fact I was to come to the advisory group tomorrow night to explain how a grant may be applied for if the park master planning effort includes historic stream restoration efforts. Daniel Imig of my staff will be coming in my stead as I have a mtg conflict. So the bottom line is the funds are there and I am awaiting a plan to work the drainage issues into."

On November 11, 2010 Mr. Imig of T&ES presented some ideas for a possible "Stream Restoration" grant for Fort Ward Park. The presentation included information about sources of funding, project criteria, grant requirements, funding levels, and the deadlines for applying for and using these funds. He indicated that this would only address a portion of the water problems in Fort Ward Park. Advisory Group members concluded that although these funds would be most helpful in solving some of the park's problems this grant alone would have little impact on managing stormwater in the park or the runoff which is damaging the graves and gravestones within the Oakland Baptist Church Cemetery. 

It appears that delays in using existing funds to begin the archaeological research have jeopardized receiving any City funds for 2011. Unfortunately delays to the archaeological research could impact the completion of the 2011 Fort Ward Park Stormwater Study funded by the City.  Moreover, delays in 

archaeological research and the stormwater study could further delay proper planning, management and protection of Fort Ward Park and the Oakland Baptist Church Cemetery. The forecast seems to indicate that work on any of these problems, if funding is available, would not begin until after 2013.

As Rich Baier wrote in a November 8, 2010 note to me and others, "Nothing will be able to go forward until there is some marriage of the programming--historic---and master planning within the park. The infrastructure needs to be done all as a part of these efforts. I have raised to Roger Blakeley and Jim Spengler that next year's budget will be tight and Ft. Ward has to be master planned prior to getting into a drainage project“.

Hopefully through the leadership of the Advisory Group, the Departments of Recreation, Historic Alexandria and Transportation & Environmental Services, as well as the members of City Council, can agree soon on the priority actions that are needed to solve the ongoing problems in Fort Ward Park. 

I urge you to be pragmatic and look at the tasks in terms of sequential order so that things aren’t being funded before they are ready to be implemented.  A nature trail, a reinvigorated arboretum, new parking lots, or a memorial to those buried in the park, are all ideas that need to be examined during the preparation of a new master plan.  The inventory of archaeology, history, culture and nature has to be completed before site-specific projects can be undertaken.  A lack of basic information about Fort Ward Park has resulted in bad park decisions and cost the City and the residents it serves time and money.  Good data will result in better city decisions and services.

7.  Come Together: Throughout the report are descriptions about the interface between City managers, homeowners and residents.  Nowhere in your report is this topic examined in any depth and breadth.  Fundamental to some of the Fort Ward conflicts is the tension, disrespect and distrust that have been created between City managers, adjacent homeowners, elected officials, and residents.  Some of these feelings have been caused by the City acting outside of its own noise, solid waste, soil erosion, archaeology, and Special Use Permit laws. Other conflicts seem to stem from different views about the role of residents in City decisions that affect them.  To most residents unilateral, top-down decisions appear to often be the norm in the Recreation Department.

Although the Advisory Group process has been a good way to document differences we still need to make sure that all the 

Fort Ward Park interests have the same goals in mind.  It would be most helpful if the report could include some very simple over-arching short-term goals for the park.  Perhaps

the Group could look at these as “key result areas” for all interests to agree on and get behind.  This type of community-based approach to building consensus for City action is an 

essential change needed at Fort Ward Park.  

8. Postpone New Development:  The lack of basic information for making decisions about the location of graves and other important park, recreation, archaeological, and historic values in the park, would either limit most new development at Fort Ward Park, and, or require that detailed evaluations are done at development sites.  The Advisory Group report should either suggest a freeze on new development or a process that is to be followed to avoid inappropriate decisions.  

The development freeze, and or review procedures, would be in place until the City Council approves the new master plan for Fort Ward Park.

9.  Plan for the Plan: Earlier I sent the Advisory Group some suggestions on park master planning in an attempt to give them a sense of the typical sequence of steps that go into a master plan.  Your lists of multiple plans are all elements that go into a standard master plan process.  However, there is no recommendation that gets at the need for different City department’s to integrate their ideas, information, plans and actions into one consolidated effort. 

The report acknowledges that there are a number of plans running on parallel tracks. Unfortunately some of this independent thinking and action has brought all of us together for the last three years.  The park seems to be used for at least four different objectives.  It was created to protect, interpret and enjoy history and culture.  It was created to protect and enjoy open space and passive recreation uses. It has been used as an Arboretum. It is also being used to manage stormwater from the park, Marlboro Estates, and Episcopal/VA Theological Seminary.  

In order to meet each of these objectives simultaneously, without impairing the values and functions of the other objectives, future actions need to be integrated.  This integration starts with all of the department heads, as well as the City Council and public, agreeing on a Statement for Management for Fort Ward Park. The Statement is a basic document prepared and revised regularly to guide park management and planning. This approach is a straight-forward way of organizing information to make decisions about park use, protection, 

management, interpretation, etc.  It shows the relationship between park purpose; management objectives; inventory and analysis; the outline of planning requirements; additional documents needed for a park master plan; and ways to engage the public in the preparation of the master plan.

The Statement for Management could be used to integrate the four major goals of the park as well as identifies what information 

is needed for future decision-making.  It is an essential decision-making path for the City to take in order to achieve the Council’s goal of a “Commitment to a balanced, multi-use park and historic site”. 

10.  Restore Trust and Parkland:  My research of the creation of Fort Ward Park spans a period of more than 60 years.  During that time community leaders, city managers, and elected officials have done a great deal of work to protect, restore, interpret, and make publicly accessible the many values of Fort Ward Park.  Over time most of the decisions that were made about the park have been positive and appropriate. Unfortunately some of the decisions that were made about the park have been detrimental to its history and the communities it serves.  

Mistakes will happen and the treatment of the graves and the creation of the maintenance yard may have reflected the times or the result of overworked park managers cutting corners to juggle multiple demands.  However, City leaders have repeatedly tried to deny or excuse the City’s actions with statements that are neither true nor reflective of the responsibility that comes with public service.  The Advisory Group should include a recommendation that urges the City managers and local elected officials to apologize to the descendant families of those persons buried in the park, and or, in the Oakland Baptist Church Cemetery for the inappropriate actions taken by the City impacting these areas.  The City should also be urged to restore the land, including the topography, drainage, permeability of the soil, and vegetation that has been modified, without proper approvals and public review, within the park maintenance yard. These actions will go a long way in rebuilding trust between City managers and elected officials and the public they serve.  

Please let me know if you have any questions.  Thanks again!

Sincerely,

Glenn

J. Glenn Eugster

4022 Ellicott Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22304