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Parks

The National Park Service (NPS) owns all of the Downtown BID area’s 34 parks, which are spread across 22 acres. Compared to other Downtown investments—including the built environment and new streetscapes—parks have not received proportional investment. Parks play an important social, economic and environmental role, but Downtown parks have not kept up with employee, visitor and residential growth.

The Downtown BID and NPS have formed a “general partnership agreement” to improve Downtown parks. As a result the BID has managed to make some improvements at Franklin and McPherson Square, as well as to develop concept drawings, undertake homeless feeding intervention, support the National Cherry Blossom Festival and host some special events in nearby parks. Good relations also have been established with other parties, including the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), the US Commission on Fine Arts (CFA) and the DC Historic Preservation Office, all of which must approve modifications to Downtown parks.

To assist in implementing park improvements, the Downtown BID has identified different park management models. They include having adjacent property owners “adopt” reservations, allowing non-profit organizations manage reservations and transferring ownership of reservations (such as Reservation 8 at Mount Vernon Square) to the city to provide for more uniform ownership and efficient management.

Other Downtown BID actions include:

• Taking inventory of the cultural landscape (identifying needed capital improvements, maintenance and programming)
• Studying other successful Downtown urban parks
• Making improvements to Reservation 72 (Chinatown Park) and Indiana Plaza, as part of the NPS agreement

Estimates to improve Downtown BID area parks range between $10 million to $15 million for capital improvements and $1 million to $1.5 million for enhanced maintenance. Solving problems within the parks will involve organizing combined federal and local, public and private efforts to rethink and re-energize the park environment. The efforts will require additional capital investments and a commitment to long-term maintenance and upkeep by adopting several design principles and guidelines that would, among other things, allow for well-managed vendor programs and café amenities, ensure high cleanliness and maintenance standards and provide regulatory park signage and the authority to enforce regulations.

The next steps in the process entail reaching a third-party agreement to solicit funding (including tax increment financing, or TIF) from diverse sources, including NPS, the Downtown BID, the Centennial Challenge, the city and foundations and share in managing Downtown parks that will help restore the neighborhood’s sense of place.