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In early May, our office was contacted by residents around Seward Square regarding concerns about the park being used for illegal behavior; including assaults, drinking in public and overnight sleeping on park benches. They asked for increased policing by the National Park Service and Capitol Police, and also whether it was possible to have the park benches replaced or retro-fitted to make them more similar to the benches found in Lincoln Park that include dividers or armrests -- thus making it difficult to sleep on the benches. As many know, this park is not under the jurisdiction of the District, but rather, is controlled and maintained by the federal government and National Park Service. Councilmember Wells wrote a letter to the NPS requesting the benches to be fitted with dividers or armrests. We recently received a response from the NPS and we wanted to share the information they included. The letter is inserted below. We also invite residents to use the comments section below to discuss next steps. Mr. Wells will be contacting Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton to discuss federal budget support to find the additional funding required, but we invite ideas, suggestions and discussion on the topic.
**************************Honorable Tommy Wells
Councilmember, Ward 6
Council of the District of Columbia
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20004 Dear Mr. Wells:
Thank you for your letter dated May 14, 2007 regarding park benches at 4th Street and Seward Square, SE, Washington, DC.
The National Park Service does not currently have a mechanism necessary to retrofit dividers/armrests on existing benches to discourage the homeless from lying down unimpeded. The benches referenced in Lincoln Park were purchased specifically with project funds combined with private donations to improve the park and its playgrounds. While we would like to replace all of our benches with the Lincoln Park benches, we do not yet have the resources to make these improvements. At an approximate cost of $2,000 a piece, it could be quite some time before we are able to complete bench replacements throughout all of our parks. We are, however, open to any partnerships you might suggest that would allow us to raise funds and help facilitate this change for specified areas.
Until such time we are able to address the bench replacement, we will make the United States Park Police aware of your concerns in the are of Seward Square with the expectation that increased patrols and scrutiny will address the illegal activity in the park.
If you have any further questions or comments regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me on (202) 690-5127 or Frank Young, Chief, Division of Maintenance, National Capital Parks-East at (202) 690-5183.
Sincerely,
Gayle Hazlewood
Superintendent
Readers have left 4 comments. (1) Untitled
2007-07-24 15:09:19 I would be more than happy to contribute to a fund to purchase new benches for the part that will discourage vagrants and criminals from loitering and sleeping there. A number of resident in my building are also willing to do this. What do we need to do? (2) Untitled
2007-08-02 15:20:52 Please let us know when this increased scrutiny will begin. Drinking alcohol, Urinating, Panhandling, Littering and a growing number of breakins in the neighborhood are daily occurances. What else can be done to address this problem? Mr. Wells how can we get the liqour control board to restrict sales of single beers in our neighborhood the same as was done on H street? (3) Untitled
2007-08-06 17:39:06 Ms. Hazlewood,
Can we have the benches removed? (4) Untitled
2007-08-07 22:07:43 The main problem here is the availabilty of single serve containers of alcohol (beer). Vagrants panhandle, then go to a store,(Rolands)buy booze, get drunk, pass out on the benches, wake up, urinate or defecate in public and then begin panhandling again. The situation seems to be getting worse every day.
The solution is to make it illegal to sell single serve alcohol (like what was done on H street). The police also need to start enforcing the laws against public drinking! The city needs to have a homelessness policy. Due to this problem I am considering moving out of DC. |
Tommy Blog 
