The battle for the future of East Potomac Park continued on a quiet Thursday as Rep. Don Beyer toured the area with local advocates, continuing their call for clarity on changes to the park.
The group, which included representatives from the Washington Area Bicyclist Association and the Cherry Blossom Ten-Mile Run, walked the length of the park to Hains Point, pointing out trees removed by the Trump administration and a general lack of transparency they feel the administration has provided about the changes.
Regular patrons of the park sitting in cars, fishing and jogging watched the tour curiously. As the group approached Hains Point, a bicyclist reminded them that they were walking in the wrong lane.
“So many people come out to the park to use it,” said Arlington resident LeRoy Hansen, a legally blind cyclist who often rides a guide-led tandem bike around the park and was part of the tour. “On nice days, people are out here waxing their cars.”
Trending
Advocates have raised the alarm for months about the uncertainty of renovations the Trump administration wishes to make at the park, to no avail.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum published a rendering of the park on social media in May that depicted updated amenities on the golf courses while still displaying public recreation areas. A few weeks later, President Donald Trump was photographed with renderings of the park that did not include any public access points or retain Ohio Drive.
“This is a perfect … all right, not perfect, it’s a great public space,” said WABA Executive Director Elizabeth Kiker. “If you have plans to change it, maybe it’ll make it better. But can you show it? Can you talk to us about it? Can you tell us what the plan is?”
The outcome of any future renovations of the park remain unclear. The National Park Service has begun issuing contracts to vendors for work in the park, including for the fortification of the seawall. Trump said in June construction of a championship golf course would begin this month. However, attorneys for NPS and the Interior Department said only necessary tree removals have occurred.
Beyer (D-Virginia), who grew up in D.C., said he had been coming to East Potomac Park for more than 70 years and played golf on the courses as a teenager. “It’s been very concerning to me as a member of Congress right across the river, because so many of the constituents who live in Northern Virginia use this park every day and every year,” he said.
He questions whether fill that sits on the golf course after being removed from the East Wing of the White House contains arsenic, lead or other toxic materials that pose a risk to recreational park users. “We learned today that it’s been seeded over. I’ve done enough construction. I like to know that when you get toxic materials, things should be buried deeply someplace, not left on top at the low grass level,” he said.
Beltway Golfer Magazine publisher Alex Dickson, who was part of the group, is a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the Interior Department and the National Park Service to ensure the golf course and recreational areas remain publicly accessible. Soil testing data from NPSindicated that toxic materials were present in fill material at rates potentially harmful to wildlife and human health. Plaintiffs in that case filed an amended complaint last week that challenged the quality standards of the initial testing and why the material would be used as fill in a public recreation area.
“The levels of toxicity in those reports, it’s not just about the golf course. It’s not just about getting your dirt in your golf clubs and sand traps and being used for the future golf course, but it’s going right into the local waterways,” he said.
The government is expected to file a response by Oct. 9. In the meantime, Beyer and the local advocates are hoping to secure a meeting with the superintendent of the National Park Service in the capital region.
“What we really need to do, as we’ve heard that there’s no trust, is to rebuild that trust,” Beyer said. “We start by having honest, forthright conversations with the leaders of the Park Service, and perhaps up the line to Doug Burgum at Interior and the White House itself.”
Author
