Another meeting: Capital Space Plan -- improving DC parks

Another meeting I won't be able to attend is the proposed plan for rethinking DC's federal and locally managed parks and open space.

From email:

Several local and federal agencies with distinct missions share responsibility for planning and managing the city's parks. For the first time in forty years, these agencies are working together to plan for the challenges and opportunities facing our open spaces. Please join the National Capital Planning Commission, the Government of the District of Columbia, and the National Park Service for an opportunity to learn more about the recently released draft CapitalSpace Plan -- a joint initiative to improve and unify Washington's park system.

Tuesday, October 27, 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library, 901 G Street, NW.
Meet and Greet, 5:30-6:00 p.m.
Presentation and Q&A, 6:00-6:30 p.m.
Discussion, 6:30-7:30 p.m.

-- Project website
-- Six Big Ideas:
- Linking the Fort Circle Parks
- Enhancing Center City Parks
- Improving Playfields
- Improving Public Schoolyards
- Transforming Small Parks
- Enhancing Urban Natural Areas
-- Draft Plan

For those of us who can't make next week's meeting:

Public comments will be accepted through December 8, 2009.

It happens that in this bicycle and pedestrian planning job I am undertaking, there is a lot that is relevant about park planning generally, and trails specifically. I mentioned trails and park planning issues a couple weeks ago in the context of the City Council's decision to not confirm Ximena Hartsock as the director of the DC Dept. of Parks and Recreation. That entry included some links to some resources on park planning.

But also check out the Trails resources pages (sadly the documents are big and the webpages take a long time to load) on the San Jose, California Parks website.

There is also a lot happening in various jurisdictions, such as Houston and Denver, in repositioning playgrounds at neighborhood schools as park/recreation resources for neighborhoods outside of school hours.

Sadly, this should be something that is done as a matter of course, but it isn't, so programs in places like Houston and Denver become examples of "best practice" rather than of normal practice.

Kaboom, the national organization which assists communities in improving and building playgrounds, has just produced a report, Play Matters, on:

local initiatives that have increased the quantity of available play spaces and opportunities, improved the quality of kids playtime, and increased children’s safe access to them.