Posion!!!
May 15, 2008 at 7:30 amDC
While out on a run during lunch yesterday we noticed that Fort Reno park, directly adjacent to my office, was surrounded with bright orange snowfencing and was being heavily guarded by police, sirens and all. Strange, we thought, considering this is a very popular public park where just the day prior I had seen a group of give or take forty high school age kids involved in flag football, and where the general Tenleytown dog owning populous takes their dogs to play. Point is the place is always filled with kids and dogs. Oh, and there is a below ground reservoir in the park that feeds much of upper Northwest DC. A quick Google search later and I discovered that the park has been closed indefinitely due to high levels of arsenic (up to 25 times the EPA’s “safe” level). As you can well imagine the very do-goodery, socio-political active residents in Tenleytown are none to happy about this. A few years ago similar levels of arsenic where discovered in the Spring Valley neighborhood, just a little way to the west of Tenleytown. You would think that this would have sprung up earlier given a known contamination hot spot not more than a mile from the park.
One of the biggest concerns that area residents appear to be voicing is a concern about the potential cancellation of the annual Fort Reno concert series. This series has hosted some big names in the DC independent/punk music scene over the last 20+ years and for many people it has become a staple summer activity. Hopefully this will resolve itself or they will only quarantine the arsenic area not the entire 33 acre park. All this talk of arsenic reminds me of the distinctive Mr. Yuck stickers that my Dad used to have on stuff in the garage.
Fort Reno is the highest natural point in the District and was the site of DC’s only Civil War battle. I think the tower in my picture has something to do with that…
Juxtaexposed.com, keeping you informed of yesterday’s news.
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June 26th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
[…] bicycle over to Fort Reno Park in Tenleytown for one in a series ofoutdoor concerts… Why is the bike wheel new you might ask? Well that would be because the bike crashed to the ground […]