Comments for “Eastern Market Metro Park Study”
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Rats, rats, rats. If this is to be an enjoyable space for people, it's all about designing to discourage rats. At a minimum, that means -- keep the foliage off the ground and avoid creating water sources of water.
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Eastern Market Metro Park needs a management team authorized to enforce rules governing the use of the Plaza. Experience has demonstrated that City Police and Metro Police sometimes differ on who has jurisdiction over activities on the plaza resulting in confusion for local residence. Please put part of the planning funds toward the research and/or lobbying effort that will likely be necessary to determine which police force will have jurisdiction over the entire parcel or authorize a team from EMMP to manage this. A well designed park will encourage more users, which is great, but will only be practical if there are clear rules re usage and some police force (either Metro or MPD) have the authority to enforce the rules.
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IIt would be great if the bike boxes could be incorporated into a more pleasant design.
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Please consider incorporating some sort of street paving or curb cuts to slow traffic as it approaches the metro plaza from 7th and South Carolina, as well as Pennsylvania. Trucks serving the restaurants on 8th Street are increasingly using 7th Street. Cars also appear to be favoring 7th Street over 8th, perhaps because of the traffic lights on 8th. The result is more traffic jams, more frustrated drivers and more frustrated drivers who are reckless and speed. A redesigned plaza will no doubt attract more people, including children. Measure should be taken to ensure that traffic moves carefully around the metro plaza, especially near the library.
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Please do not include water features on the metro side -- they are difficult to maintain, easily contribute to West Nile issues when broken, and provide a necessary water source for rats who dine on the trash from the carry outs in the 400 block of 8th Street.
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Consider using large river rocks to mulch. They are water permeable, but prevent rodents from burrowing down or up.
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Foliage at ground level should be extremely sparse. Plants should be chosen for their ability to be pruned so that foliage grows no closer to the ground than three feet. Nothing more than something like very widely spaced, miniature mondo grass should be on the ground.
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The design must take account of the massive long standing rat infestations on the metro side of the plaza. That means no food, no water feature, and, critically, no low greenery, which encourages rats from lurking and burrowing. (Check out the existing circles for examples of the burrows.) The metro plaza needs creative landscaping that focuses on getting the green off the ground.
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The design should not include the sale of food. Food sales on the plaza will contribute to the already terrible rat problem. Food trucks will contribute to existing exhaust and heat problems in the summer.
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Please ensure that the metro side does not become a place of business. In particular, do not turn it into a venue for food trucks or other food sellers. We in the nearby blocks are already inundated with Popeye and Chipotle and 7/11 wrappers and food scrapes.
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The existing trees should be incorporated in the design. A number of close-in, long time residents of the neighborhood have contributed countless hours to their nurture A design involving the destruction of the existing trees and delays for another 20 years the development of the tree canopy so badly needed at the metro plaza would be counter productive.
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We would like the metro side of the plaza to be green space that offers relief from the glaring sun in the summer and buffers the residents from the traffic of Pennsylvania Avenue.
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I think that the top priority should be the maintenance of the plaza. In addition, rat abatement and prevention should also be high on the priority list. Finally, all the existing trees should be retained in the landscaping plan. They are established and should not be lost.
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It'd be great to create a better route for pedestrians going to the Metro -- so they don't cross here.
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This area (andperhaps another small area) would be apprpriate for a rain garden. Signs could be posted to describe how the garden was built and ow it conserves rainwater. If at all possible, no trees should be taken down for the ocnstruction.
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This would be a good location for a zero-depth splash padfor children, particualrly those age 6 and younger. These splash pads are generally successful in public parks, and this location (presumably near a new chilren's playground) is somewhat out-of-the way.
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I am a Master Gardener who has been developing and maintaining public parks on Capitol Hill for the past 10 years. I stronly discourage the building of any water feature in the part of the plaza that includes the Metro escalators. Any water feature wouldlikley fail becuase of the underground Metro property, but it would also be a nuisance. Any feature with a trough would be the worst possible water featur, as it would soon become a stopped up garbage pit.
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