Neighborhood Notes - Foxhall: 2 January 2002
Planning to replace the Director at Hardy Rec’n Center is by no means a fait accompli.
Neighbors are raising the possibility that this may merely be a game of musical chairs to force older, higher-in-grade
and therefore more costly employees to undesirable posts, whence they will take early retirement. Can this be a
classic public bureaucratic move to reduce costs by the back door, not by a straightforward buy-out? Our D.C.
Councilors in Wards 3 and 4 are getting involved, and several of our Foxhall neighbors have already gone the
extra mile in contacting both Neil Albert and people who can offer publicity.The issue is whether community wishes
and needs will be duly, and early, taken into account in DCDPR decision-making. We have seen little evidence of this,
despite Neil Albert's rhetoric and the thousands of dollars raised privately to support Hardy (and supplant amenities
the department cannot/will not provide). When RCIS expansion proposals approach a critical point, it will be
especially important to have sent this strong message to DCDPR.
Note this will be my last weekly column. I have just completed one-year as ex-officio Past President of Foxhall
Community Citizens Association, after a three-year term as President from 1998-2000. As I‘ll no longer be on the
FCCA Board, it becomes more appropriate that in future any issues that I write about be in the form of a “Letter to
the Editor”, when and if there are particular issues of broad community concern.
Since October 1999 I’ve enjoyed the weekly mental discipline of composing a 250-300 word column, keeping
it to one or at most two topics. I know from your feedback that, although some people didn’t always agree with what
I wrote, many others told me they eagerly looked forward to reading it.
© Bob Andrew, Foxhall
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