Parks are an important part of the Downtown experience, serving as oases in a densely built environment. They’re also now a casualty of the federal government shutdown—well, sort of.
While virtually all DowntownDC BID area parks are owned and cared for by the National Park Service, our Downtown Safety/Hospitality and Maintenance (SAMs) employees also lend a helping hand maintaining them. Since 2007, the BID has had a general partnership agreement with the NPS to supplement trash collection, cleaning, and landscaping services within the agency’s parks.
The BID has at least one zone cleaner responsible for servicing each of the 33 park areas subject to the NPS agreement. While this might seem like a lot, many of these properties are smaller triangular, or bowtie, parks. Only a few, such as Franklin Park, are large squares.
It’s times like these when our NPS partnership agreement means so much more. With Park Service staff now furloughed, our Maintenance SAMs are being extra vigilant accessing park conditions, reporting deficiencies ASAP and ensuring that trash is collected and landscaping remains in overall tip-top shape.