Tonight: NPS Woodson Site Public Meeting for General Management Plan

I apologize for the late notice (I'm just now seeing this), but from NPS comes news of a meeting (tonight, February 22, 2012):

The National Park Service is developing a General Management Plan/Environmental Assessment/Interpretation Plan for the Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site.


The plan describes the process for development, visitor use, and management of the national historic site. Throughout the planning process, the National Park Service has received ideas and comments from members of the public. Input from the public is valuable, and I hope you will take part in reviewing the plan.

The plan will be available online in mid-February 2012 at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/woodsongmp; I invite your and comments.

The review and comment period will last for 30 days once the plan is released. To promote environmental stewardship, only a limited number of printed copies and USB flash drives will be available; therefore, I encourage you to access the plan online. Please make your comments on the website listed above. (To request a printed copy or USB flash drive of the plan, please call 202-673-2402.)

You are also invited to provide feedback at a public meeting.

Please join us:

PUBLIC MEETING FOR GENERAL MANAGEMENT PLAN

WHEN: Wednesday, February 22, 2012

WHERE: African American Civil War Memorial and Museum

1925 Vermont Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20001

TIME: 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

A presentation will be made regarding the plan, and National Park Service staff will be available to answer your questions. If you are unable to attend the meeting, I recommend visiting www.nps.gov/cawo starting in mid-February to view a video message from me. Look under Park Management on the website for a link to the video. For more information about national historic site, please visit www.nps.gov/cawo . I welcome your participation in this planning effort and look forward to hearing from you. Thank you for your interest!

Sincerely,

Alexcy Romero, Superintendent

National Capital Parks-East

NPS To Install Signage at Woodson Site Soon

According to this presentation (PDF):

The National Park Service is proposing to permanently install two exterior interpretive wayside panels in front of the Dr. Carter G. Woodson Historic Site in the Shaw community. The site was named after Dr. Woodson the “Father of Black History” and is located in a heavily trafficked urban community near Rhode Island Avenue, the Washington Convention Center, and several neighborhood schools. The panels will stand on the sidewalk in an unobstructed location in front of the home of Dr. Carter G. Woodson and the future visitor complex area at 1540 9th Street which the NPS currently owns and plans to restore and operate as a staffed park unit with tours and visitor service.

The two panels are to be placed in front of the historic site on the sidewalk, in approximate alignment with the projection of the existing entry stairs. Two alternative locations for the panels are being considered. The first location is centered between the two window bays in front of the Woodson home. The second location is centered between the two window bays in the adjacent NPS property at 1540 9th Street, NW, which would be in between the historic home and the future entrance to the visitor services facility to be located at 1542 9th Street, NW. Because it will be several years before the visitor services facility is opened, the NPS prefers the first alternative, to locate the signs directly in front of the Woodson home, so that there is a more direct and straightforward connection to the historic home.

This project seeks to provide a limited interpretive experience for pedestrians, visitors and the tour groups who visit the site so that they may understand how Dr. Woodson, the Shaw community, and the organization he founded, Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, changed the nation and world. Until the home is completely restored and opened to the public, these wayside panels will interpret the site’s significance. The National Park Service hopes to install the panels between the second week of January 2012 before the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. or by the end of February 2012, Black History Month, which Woodson started in 1926.

NPS Implememts Temporary Enhancement to Woodson Site

Some neighbors and I met with representatives from the National Parks Service recently to discuss temporary enhancements to the Woodson Site pending the full development of this national park in a few years. The improvements discussed included purely aesthetic items (e.g., installing window boxes or planters), educational items (e.g., installing signage regarding Dr. Woodson and the plans for the site), and safety/nuisance items (e.g., making the properties less conducive/attractive to loiterers and homeless). The Parks Service was very receptive to the ideas discussed and agreed to move forward with many temporary improvements.

Today, one of the safety/nuisance items we discussed became a reality. The recessed doorway to 1542 Ninth Street, Northwest, was sealed over with a gate. This recessed area has been a repeat encampment spot for homeless and has provided a dark enclave for nefarious conduct, so this measure is much appreciated by neighbors.



Thanks, NPS, and we look forward to seeing other temporary improvements erected soon!

Woodson Site Progressing

I attended last week’s forum regarding the Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site (“Woodson Site”) development and was pleased to learn of the behind-the-scenes progress that’s been made to bring us closer to seeing new life breathed into the Parks Service’s buildings in the 1500 block of Ninth Street.

Gayle Hazelwood, Superintendent of the National Capital Parks-East division of the National Parks Service (“Parks Service”), provided a briefing on the status of the development of the Woodson Site. She reported that in recent months, the Parks Service developed three alternative action concepts for the Woodson properties. The Parks Service will next develop a Draft General Management Plan, which will flesh out the three alternatives and include concept drawings for the same. After public comment on the Draft General Management Plan, the preferred alternative will be identified. Funding will be requested in spring/summer 2010. Superintendent Hazelwood expects that the Woodson Site will be operational by 2015. The Parks Service remains in negotiations to acquire the vacant corner property at Ninth and Q Streets, NW (1544 Ninth Street, NW). According to the online real property database, there is an outstanding tax balance of $58,252.19 for 1544 Ninth Street.

Pending development of the Woodson Site, the Parks Service will work with the community to better secure and beautify the properties. Namely, responsive to neighbor requests, the Parks Service will seal the areas under the front stoops are used by vagrants for storage of personal belongings, trash, alcohol, and other items. The Parks Service will also work with neighbors to install planters and to remove graffiti from the buildings. The Parks Service repeatedly encouraged citizens to call the Park Police at 202.619.7300 to report any suspicious or illegal activities at the properties.

From SMS: NPS To Provide Update on Carter Woodson Site Tomorrow Night

From Shaw Main Streets:

Join the National Park Service, Shaw Main Streets, Inc. and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) Thursday, June 25, 2009 at 931 R Street, NW at 6:30pm to discuss the planning and progress of the Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site. Currently, the site is undergoing a General Management Plan as well as a Historic Resource Study. This meeting will provide more insightful details about those planning documents and the “Next Steps” towards the development of the Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site.

There will be briefing statements from Superintendent, Gayle Hazelwood and Park Manager, Robert Parker as well as remarks from ANC 2C01 Commissioner Alexander Padro and ASALH, the National Park Service official partner to the Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site.

The event will be held in a historic former firehouse which once housed Washington, DC’s first all African American fire company. It is now the home and studio of noted neon artist Craig Kraft. The building, located in the Greater U Street Historic District, retains many of its original firehouse fixtures.

This program is part of the ongoing public programs offered by the Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site c/o the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site. For additional information concerning this program and other events, please call (202) 673-2402.

Carter Woodson Site Cited For Trash, Weeds, Graffiti, and Not Being Secured

For a while, it has appeared that vagrants have been inhabiting the National Parks Service's Carter G. Woodson properties, accessing them through poorly secured windows and doors. Of course, trash, graffiti and weeds are common associations with the sad looking vacant structures slated to one day honor Dr. Woodson. It appears that the DCRA has taken notice of the deplorable conditions at one of the National Park Service's buildings (1538 9th Street). A notice issued on January 5 cites several community-harming conditions present at the property. While I don't think the DCRA has power over the federal National Parks Service, hopefully their message is clear: Clean up your act.



Thanks, Drew, for the photo and report.

NPS Meeting on Carter Woodson Site Tonight

From Alex Padro:

The National Park Service is holding a scoping meeting for the Carter G. Woodson Home National HistoricSite general management plan on Wednesday, November 12, 2008, from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM at the Thurgood Marshall Center for Service and Heritage, 1816 12th Street, NW. The meeting is open to the public, and no reservations are required.

The purpose of the meeting is to gather input from neighbors and Washingtonians at large regarding their hopes for the house and surrounding area and suggestions for the future use of the house and adjacent buildings.

The NPS planning team has prepared purpose and significance statements and themes, which can be viewed at www.nps.gov/cawo, then click on Park Planning.

The Woodson Home, located at 1538 9th Street, NW, was for nearly three decades the home of Carter G. Woodson, the father of Black History, and the offices of the organization he founded, the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (now the Association for the Study of African American Life and History) and Associated Publishers, the publishing arm Woodson started to print and distribute books on Black history that commercial publishers would not touch. The NPS site will be one of the major tourist attractions in Shaw Main Streets' service area when it opens.

NPS's National Parks Week at the Bethune Site

In walking by the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site in Logan Circle today, I noticed a banner advertising National Parks Week hanging out front amidst the carefully tended flower garden. It appears that National Parks Week has come and gone (it ran from April 19 to 27), and that the Bethune site featured Arrowhead Talks during the week.

Every time I walk by this NPS Site, I think of how it contrasts to our very own Carter G. Woodson Home Historic Site. The Woodson site seemingly receives minimal care or attention from the NPS whilst awaiting the NPS's promised renovation and utilization of the place. I'm unaware of any progress made by the NPS in bringing the Woodson project closer to reality since the February 2007 community update meeting. I wish they would, at very least, seal over the areas in which homeless individuals store their belongings. I think it would be nice to see planters placed on the front steps with seasonal flowers like those at the Bethune site. An update from the NPS would also be appreciated.

NPS Carter Woodson Site: Not a Listed Centennial Strategy

Unless I am missing something, I cannot find any reference to the Carter G. Woodson Site in the NPS's Centennial Initiative. As you may recall, at a meeting hosted by Shaw Main Streets last February, the NPS apprised us that the site's renovation would likely be tied to the NPS's Centennial Initiative (the NPS's centennial celebration is in 2016 and has a lot of investment in NPS properties prior to it). The Carter G. Woodson Site is not a listed specifically as a NPS Centennial Strategy nor is it listed as part of the strategy for the National Capital Parks - East.

I have seen virtually no activity at the site in the past year. The place continues to deteriorate--most recently, an ornate, original iron railing was pushed down by vagrants who frequently drink on the stoops of the properties. The NPS maintenance staff show up periodically to remove trash, but their maintenance efforts are minimal to say the least (I'd say they average 10 minutes at the site when they come, which seems to be pretty infrequent). I wonder if anything really is going on behind the scenes to make this NPS site anything other than neighborhood-harming blight.

Call To Action: Carter G. Woodson Memorial Park

Read Rob Goodspeed's detailed story about the beaurocratic hold-up--potentially causing the shelving of the project completely--in the design and construction of the Carter G. Woodson Memorial Park here. Of note, he concludes that:

Since my polite inquiries and the assistance of the neighborhood’s elected officials has not resolved the problem, I encourage all District residents to contact the officials below. Tell them to find a solution to the legal technicalities, approve funds for design and construction of the Carter G. Woodson Park. I have no doubt a legal solution can be found to pay for the art for this much-needed park.
Contacts

Emeka C. Moneme
Director, D.C. Department of Transportation
Emeka.Moneme@dc.gov

David P. Gragan, CPPO
Chief Procurement Officer, D.C. Office of Contracting and Procurement
David.Gragan@dc.gov

Reba Pittman-Walker
CEO and General Manager, Washington Convention Center Authority
rwalker@dcconvention.com

In the Meantime: The National Parks Service and the Carter Woodson Site (Part 1 of a Series)

In February, the National Parks Service ("NPS") provided an update on the Carter Woodson Site development. Among other things, the NPS informed us that it might not be until 2016 before the site has been renovated and is open to the public. We were also told that if one ever sees vagrants or any other criminal activity in or around the NPS’s buildings on the 1500 block of 9th (adjacent to several of Shiloh Baptist Church’s vacant properties, which also attract vagrants), one should call the NPS police at 202.619.7300 to report it immediately. As illustrated in the above picture provided to me by neighbor Ray, vagrants often find respite on the steps of the Woodson site, usually drinking alcohol.

I have called the NPS Police on several occasions but can’t say I’ve been pleased with the results. First of all, I often get the feeling that the person on the other end of the line is confused over where the property is and if it’s indeed a NPS property. Second, I feel like my report is treated as trivial. I recognize that I’m not reporting a fire or anything too urgent, but vagrancy causes serious problems for neighbors (I’m constantly cleaning up discarded liquor bottles, trash, excrement (sadly I’m not exaggerating), condoms, and so forth). Third, I have yet to see much of a response from the NPS (one prior report seemingly prompted a visit by NPS maintenance a few days later).

I have emailed the NPS about my calls. I have also emailed the NPS requesting that they seal over the areas below the front stoops and/or the steps leading down into the basements of the buildings. I have observed that these areas serve as storage areas, hiding places, and trash repositories; I believe that sealing over them will make the stoops less of a magnet for vagrants. Time will tell if the NPS is responsive to my request.

Having felt un-heard by the NPS Police in the past, I’ve been slack about calling in reports of vagrancy on their properties recently. But I’m going to be a squeaky wheel now, and plan to call them every time I see someone hanging out on the front porch until I see tangible progress towards resolving the problems associated with their properties pending development of the site. I encourage you to do the same. The Parks Service Police number, again, is 202.619.7300.