Feed Your Head

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Part of the lyrics from White Rabbit by Grace Slick (Jefferson Airplane)- to put you in the mood for this Alice in Wonderland story

When logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead
And the white knight is talking backwards
And the red queen’s off with her head
Remember what the dormouse said
Feed your head, feed your head

So, yesterday, I took issue with Washington, DC and how it plans to (eventually, any day now) regulate short-term room/home rentals. But, as much as many folks love picking on DC, it’s not the only city that misses the mark when it comes to providing services to its citizens.

Today, we’ll examine the city in which I reside, Alexandria, Virginia. Supposedly the most liberal city in the Commonwealth. (How does one prove that? I wonder.)

Our 15+ square mile city, with more than 160K residents, used to be part of the District of Columbia, as was Arlington, the county next door. But, the city began 350 years ago (1669) with a patent from England; yet, it was long after Captain Philip Alexander located to (what is now Duke Street) in the area in 1746 – to be exact in 1779-that Alexandria was incorporated as independent from Fairfax County.

Chinquapin Rec Center

But, that’s not what I will be discussing today.Our solo high school, TC Williams, is associated with the Chinquapin Recreational Center, which houses the Rixse Memorial Pool. The pool (and the rec center) serves both the school system and the residents of the city.

The rec center has two parking lots to serve its users- and those lots are specifically forbidden for any other uses. (Voters, on the two potential election days of the year, are allowed to use the lots while they are voting at the rec center.)

Yet, it is not infrequent to arrive at the rec center and find nary a parking spot. Yet, upon entry to the rec center, one finds less than 5 folks using the site.

Alexandria City Council

So, when citizens (and the employees of the rec center) want to know why the city won’t enforce the rules, one would think the city leaders would respond. NOT! That’s despite the fact that every user of the rec center has to register when we come in- leaving our license number would not be an undue burden.

Oh, I guess I should provide another piece of information. Every police officer has a “connected computer” at his/her disposal. Most transportation officers have the same proviso. So, a quick look at the parking lot (taking less than 5 minutes) would disclose which student, parent, teacher, or visitor to TC Williams (and specifically forbidden to use said lots) needs a citation. It’s not like this would be a special visit, since the site is visited by cops and city employees manifold times each day (and sometimes each hour during the day).

Even if they didn’t have the computer system, it wouldn’t take a genius to discern which cars were parked there for more than 2 hours.  Which way longer than any program (or racquetball court reservation) lasts.  And, ticket those that hadn’t moved their vehicles.  It would only take 2 random days of regulation a week- and then a month- to make it clear that parking illegally had financial repercussions.

Let us not forget that every street within three blocks of the high school has two hour parking- to stop the school visitors and/or students from  parking.  Those rules are enforced- with a vengeance.  Yet, the rec center lot- never!

Wait- there’s more.

The Old Chinquapin Schedule

The city has been posting the availability to swim laps in the pool every day for years. The times when lap lanes are available, the times when classes are held (which restrict usage to good portions of the pool), are all posted.

And, when a class or group from the city schools – or even a paying party from one of the private schools in the area- want to use the pool, they must reserve that use with a city employee. Yet, that city employee does nothing with that information. Instead of posting that restriction on the Chinquapin site for that day, the city does nothing.

Despite the fact that I, at least seven other daily users of the pool (I admit to not knowing EVERY lap swimmer at the pool) and several of the city employees routinely ask folks like Justin Wilson (now the Mayor, previously a councilperson) and other council persons to do so. It’s not like the city hasn’t recorded the reservation for the day- all it would take is to post that information so folks like me know to change the time we plan to swim. Instead of wasting fuel and time to drive to the pool only to find we can’t!

The solution the city happened upon was to reduce the resident’s ability to swim laps.  Instead of 4 to 6 lanes available for at least 6 hours a day, they cut the lap lane availability to two lanes for a few hours a day.  Saying the rest of the day was a strong maybe.

The new Chinquapin Schedule

Did you notice- despite the fact that the public lap swim has been removed from view- that there are two lanes available on Monday from 3:30 to closing?  Well, when I arrived on Monday at 4 PM, there were NO lanes available.  And, none would be available until at least 6 PM.  So much for cutting public access to minimum.  Because there still are no lap lanes even when the schedule promises they are  available.

How’s that for rewarding incompetence?  And, screwing the city residents who pay taxes to maintain the center- and usage fees when they come, as well.

Yes, Justin- this is YOUR job. You, too, Del, John, Amy,  Mo, Elizabeth, and Canek. How about ensuring the city operates as promised!  Roy A. Ackerman, Ph.D., E.A.

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