Potomac Overlook Park worth visiting

If you need a vacation from the hustle and bustle of your daily life, take a trip to Potomac Overlook Park off Military Rd. in north Arlington. In the 1930s the park area contained a group of farm buildings.  That was one of the largest developments in north Arlington at the time.  Now the park contains a Nature Center, several educational gardens, and more than two miles of hiking trails that offer scenic views of the Potomac.  Potomac Overlook Park is a great place to take a quiet walk in the woods.

If you had gone to Potomac Overlook Park on Sunday, you could have also enjoyed the 26th Annual Potomac Overlook Park Heritage Festival.  There's always next year!

clean environment sign messed up

Rosslyn's magnificent and unique Freedom Park includes a set of painted-tile murals entitled "Spectrum of Freedom."  These murals were created by 270 young persons throughout Arlington.  One of the murals is entitled "Freedom to Live in a Clean Environment."  But the sign labeling the mural has fallen off and is littered on the ground below.  This is a bad example for young persons.

no agreement on Rosslyn boathouse

Contrary to a prior report, the National Park Service has not agreed to the construction of a boathouse in Rosslyn.  Dottie Marshall, Superintendent of the George Washington Memorial Parkway for the National Park Service (NPS), stated at the Radnor/Ft. Myer Heights Civic Assocation (RAFOM) meeting tonight that NPS must evaluate alternatives, including alternative sites and the alternative of not constructing a boathouse.  Marshall emphasized that a Rosslyn boathouse's implications for Roosevelt Island's presidential memorial would be considered thoroughly and weighed relatively heavily.

The current Roosevelt Memorial is a Stalinistic abomination.  Marshall noted that NPS is repairing the moats about the memorial (yup, it's got moats) to lessen the number of dead animals floating about the memorial.  That's not enough to renovate this presidential memorial.

Teddy Roosevelt had a great love for the outdoors and for vigorous physical activity.  Roosevelt Island is a wonderful green space. Build a boathouse across from Roosevelt Island and name it the Roosevelt Rough Rider Boathouse.  Doing that would make Roosevelt Island a much more fitting presidential memorial.

Marshall also discussed critical road repair on George Washington Parkway, the construction of comfort facilities (toilet and storage space) near the Iwo Jima Memorial, and rapidly shrinking wetlands along the Potomac.

Other notes from the RAFOM meeting:

1. A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Hillside Park renovations will occur this Saturday at 1pm at Hillside Park.  The event flyer states, "Green design and construction practices have transformed Hillside Park into a unique and sustainable public space!"  Translation: a lot of metal and some concrete was added to Hillside Park. Green plants were painted on one lump of concrete. The trees are not pleased.  You shouldn't be either.
2. Dominion Power is holding a community meeting about the new Radnor Heights power station and power line.  The meeting will take place on Nov. 29, 5-8pm, at the Lyon Park Community Center.
3. Joint Base Myer Henderson Hall will hold more history walks this spring.
4. Arlington County will hold a public meeting on its six-year Transit Development Plan on Nov. 22 at 7pm in the county meeting room, 2100 Clarendon Blvd.
5. Lou Gatti received a 15-year lease renewal for the Quarterdeck restaurant.  This neighborhood restaurant will thus continue to serve neighbors and visitors.  Patrick will be the operational manager.
6. The RAFOM holiday party for neighborhood low-income families is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 14.
7. Bald eagles have built a nest near the intersection of Spout Run and the George Washington Parkway. Keep an eye out for eagles!

The next regular RAFOM meeting will be in February.  The RAFOM Board welcomes suggestions for speakers and subjects for the coming year.

gateway to Gateway Park renovation

Rosslyn's Gateway Park hosts the Rosslyn outdoor film festival, the Rosslyn Jazz Festival, the Rosslyn pitstop on Bike to Work Day, meals and toilet facilities for homeless persons, and many other important functions.  Planning is now underway for renovating Gateway Park.  To learn more about the proposals, see:

• TBD: Pondering the future of Rosslyn's Gateway Park
• ARLnow: Proposed Designs for revamped Rosslyn Gateway Park 
• Arlington County: Gateway Park Master Plan Meeting Schedule & Documentation

Remember the Hillside Park renovation.  We can do better!

expensive, ugly Hillside Park renovation

A half-million dollars was spent renovating Hillside Park.  The result isn't worth a tenth of that.  The North Meade Street Park renovation, which surely was much less expensive, created a space of great natural beauty.  The Hillside Park renovation added a lot of metal to the park.  Ponder what went wrong.  Figure out how to avoid fiascoes like this in the future.

The Hillside Park renovation added a long stretch of bare-colored metal fencing to the park. The need for this fencing seems to have been artificially created with the slightly raised platform.  It separates persons on the platform from the natural beauty of the park. Terrible, terrible design.

Randomly placed black fence pieces with metallic bird silhouettes (no kidding!) accentuate the metallic feel of the space.  Rosslyn has become a center of art and fashion and creativity.  These below-cutesy, pointless fence pieces are an embarrassment to Rosslyn's avant-garde artistic sensibility.

Sure the fence has an iron-like appearance. Irony and absurdity were fashionable in last decade's contemporary art.  But I've looked and looked at the Hillside Park renovations, and I just don't see that level of sophistication there.

Hillside Park now has a small helicopter landing pad in the middle of the park.  The Ode Street Tribune's team of investigative reporters has not been able to uncover plans to land a small helicopter in Hillside Park. If you have information about such plans, or any idea why a small platform (accessible only by steps) has been placed in the middle of Hillside Park, please let us know.

The concrete structure painted sky-blue on the top and decorated with large, painted blades of grass appears to be a bench. It falls a few thousand miles short of capturing the beauty of nature.  Anyone who renovates a park by adding painted green plants on concrete should be buried in dead leaves.

Children may soil their diapers when they see their new play area in Hillside Park.  It's a small, uneven cork surface with a weirdly shaped concrete piece in the middle.  That concrete piece has been painted brown.  It's unlikely to inspire children's imaginations.  But it may move their bowels in sympathy.

Much of the blame for the Hillside Park renovation fiasco belongs to the Ode Street Tribune.  Informative, influential, and inspiring news sources are essentially for a healthy community.  The Ode Street Tribune has failed to raise appreciation for the natural world.  It has failed to influence Rosslyn park renovation planners.  It has failed to secure fun playgrounds for our children.

The Ode Street Tribune hereby pledges to serve our neighborhood better in the future. As a reminder of this solemn pledge, we have added an image of the brown concrete Hillside Park children's production to the right, stationary column of this news outlet.

Note: Click on the images above to see larger versions.

Update: A well-connected correspondent reported that the helicopter landing pad is is a picnic spot awaiting a picnic table.  Evidently, in the course of this six-month-long construction project, the construction of this picnic spot was not well planned.

recognize North Meade Street Park

The North Meade Street Park, at the corner of Arlington Blvd. and N. Meade St., was once a barren piece of ground.  Arlington County and the neighborhood worked together to transform that ground into a park with boulders, shrubs, and beautiful flowers in season.  The park is small, but no place is ever too small to become beautiful.

North Meade Street Park deserves to be included on Arlington County's list of parks.

sneak peak of new (temporary) park in Rosslyn

The former site of the Orleans House restaurant, and the future site of the Central Place building, is being converted into a park.  Enjoy it until the real estate economy picks up.

new benches at Ft. Myer Heights park

Two new park benches have been installed at Ft. Myer Heights park. One, which is wheelchair-accessible, I hope to be able to use a half-century from now. Steve Campbell put together the proposal for these and other park improvements. A big thanks to Steve for his contribution to the neighborhood.

Ft. Myer Heights Park improved

The basketball (half-) court and entranceway were paved, new grills and new picnic tables were installed, and an impressive wooden patio with stairs leading up from the park. The nice little Ft. Myer Heights Park just got nicer.

Fort Myer Heights Park

Ft. Myer Heights Park is an under-appreciated treasure at 1400 Ft Myer Dr. in Rosslyn. It includes three picnic tables, three grills, a basketball hoop, a children's play area with some interesting structures, and enough green space to set up a volleyball court or a mini-soccer field. In the summer some serious sun-bathers can be found there.



Local leader Steve Campbell has put together some park enhancement grant proposals. He has developed detailed proposals for additional park benches, a more welcoming bilingual sign, and a rain garden. The video below shows his presentation on the proposals at the RAFOM neighborhood meeting on Oct. 10.