Some District residents are baffled by the budget-cutting priorities of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s administration. In recent meetings, they specifically were dismayed that the Department of Parks and Recreation seems to have made dogs its prime interest — above day care centers, maintenance of facilities, retaining sufficient program personnel and restoring athletic fields.
“The recreation of dogs is more important than the education of our children,” one resident said last week at a hearing of the D.C. Council’s Committee on Recreation and Libraries.
DPR closed several “gold-certified” child care centers, disrupting the education of dozens of children while creating logistical and other nightmares for parents. Some people are circulating a petition demanding DPR Director Clark Ray’s resignation.
“Don’t make this your Waterloo,” Ward 5 Councilman and Committee Chairman Harry Thomas Jr. repeatedly warned Ray.
Ray was ordered to cut $1.8 million from his 2009 budget. That resulted in the termination of 44 people — more than half worked at day care centers. Recreation specialists and maintenance employees also are in short supply, leaving some centers poorly staffed.
But DPR spokesman John Stokes said the cuts hadn’t caused any “significant impact” on programs. Day care centers were “consolidated, but the programs still exist, just at different locations.” And maintenance staff worked only “two hours” per day for the agency.
Still, Thomas isn’t happy. He wants to meet with the mayor.
“How do you dismantle a [day care] system when it was working?” he asked.
“A lot of disingenuous things are happening. I don’t think [they] are being honest about how [they] are trying to reshape the system,” Thomas continued. He says he worries about Fenty’s apparent decision to contract out certain DPR services.
Many agencies, including the Department of Health and the Department of Mental Health, also are quietly privatizing large portions of their service portfolios. The council has yet to intervene.
Meanwhile, in Ward 3, residents don’t understand why, given the budget crunch, DPR intends to spend as much as $350,000 on the development of a dog park at Newark and 39th streets NW.
Bridget Stesney, a DPR planner, presented a “conceptual design” for the dog park during a meeting last week of Advisory
Neighborhood Commission 3C. That design includes the installation of “artificial dog turf,” which alone costs $150,000.
“This dog park thing just keeps getting more absurd, “ said Linda Blount Berry, who, like me, isn’t a fan of dog parks but has made peace with them. “It’s like being on a ship of fools.”
“Under the Obama stimulus plan, ordinary human beings will only get $400 each. But if you are a dog in McLean Gardens, the [DPR] is about to lavish over $1,000 on each of you,” said Jerome Akman, another Ward 3 resident.
Thomas said he thought the city should slow the development of the parks. “Are we going to build dog parks before our basic needs are satisfied?”
Answer: Yes.
Jonetta Rose Barras, an author and political analyst, can be reached at [email protected].
