Hobart Twins Park – 700 Block of Hobart Place, NW
“Dear PoPville,
I know I’ve written to you about it before, and many popville readers would dismiss this saying “it’s a side street, of course it’s ignored by the city,” but it’s driving everyone on the block absolutely crazy how terribly the city is responding. It’s so bad that we have folks on our neighborhood group chat debating whether we should just petition for the removal of the trash cans outright.
TL/DR: residents on our block must submit 311 tickets to get public trash cans emptied in the small park on our block and it only happens once every few weeks. 311 doesn’t seem to know who’s responsibility it is: Department of Public Works, Department of Parks and Recreation, or now suddenly Department of General Services. Truly mind numbing levels of incompetence.”
“Mayor Bowser; Ward 1 Councilmember Nadeau; At-Large Councilmembers White, Henderson, Bonds, and Crawford; and Commissioner Brown:
I’m writing you all to ask for assistance in getting the city to address the often ignored Hobart Twins Park in the middle of the 700 block of Hobart Place NW.
Specifically, I’m requesting that the city please do something about the lack of reliable trash pickups for the park’s three public trash cans. The cans often go weeks without emptying and regularly overflow with garbage. When left this way, it’s not just an unsightly eyesore, but a foul smelling public health nuisance as rats come to eat the waste and drag garbage around the surrounding park, sidewalks, and street. Please see attached pictures taken today, July 13 – the last time the cans were emptied was early on the week prior to July 4th.
I have been a homeowner on the block for nearly 5 years and in those years I have not seen the park left in such bad shape. Neighbors from both Hobart Place NW as well as Harvard Street NW, many of whom are copied on this email, agree that it should not take multiple requests to 311 to get public trash cans emptied. However, that is seemingly the only way to get the city’s attention. Public trash cans on the 2900 block of Georgia Avenue, only a mere half block away, are emptied nearly nightly if not every single day. Whereas residents of Hobart Place must submit multiple tickets to 311 to get our block’s overflowing trash emptied once every-other week if we’re lucky. And when we do submit a requests to 311, we are told a variety of the city government’s agencies are responsible: sometimes it’s public works, sometimes it’s parks and recreation, and most recently I’ve been told Department of General Services is the responding agency.
We are left wondering: does the city know which agency is responsible for emptying those trash cans? And does the responsible agency know it’s their responsibility to do so? Even more, why does the responsible agency not have
frequent, regularly-occurring, and scheduled trash pickups? Why does this garbage problem always become the surrounding neighborhood’s residents’ problem to address instead of it being the city’s responsibility to reliably maintain?
In addition to the trash cans, the general maintenance of the park has been woefully neglected. It’s mid-July and the park has not seen a landscaping crew to cut grass, remove overgrown weeds, or trim overgrown bushes all year. A tree removal crew came earlier this year to cut down a large dead tee and that’s all. Nearby residents can only do so much. It is the duty of the city to provide upkeep to its public spaces.
Any inquiries that could be made in your official capacities to represent your constituents and ensure our concerns are addressed would be greatly appreciated. The current situation at Hobart Twins Park is untenable. I look forward to a response indicating what action, if any, can be taken to rectify this oversight.”
Follow-up. Turns out I was right. The city *doesn’t* know which agency is responsible for that particular park 🤦🏻♂️
Reply from Councilmember Nadeau:
“Good morning. Yes, a couple years ago I went through a very lengthy exercise to figure out who was responsible for picking up the trash at Hobart Twins, and it turned out that nobody was, which was why you were having such problems. I thought we had resolved this so I will follow up with the relevant agencies to make sure that this is on somebody’s map.
This is reminding me that I also need to get an update on the improvements that I funded for the parks so I will also follow up with that information”