America’s Most Popular Federal Agency Is Weirdly Hated in Washington

Image via Politico.

From Politico:

If you live in Washington, the National Park Service is a weirdly big part of your life. The federal agency controls up to 90 percent of the city’s open space, a sprawling collection that ranges from the National Mall to hundreds of random traffic circles, grassy triangles and neighborhood gathering places, at least 356 in all.

Invariably, this accident of history leads to conflicts: Locals want a playground or a dog run or a lure for nearby businesses or, in one especially enervating case, a place for an LGBTQ+ bocce ball league to convene on Thursday nights. Park Service officials, following a rulebook more suited to Yellowstone than to a modest city park, nix it in the name of preservation or heritage or nitpicky regulations about organized sports.

It makes for an absolutely rotten way to run either a big city or a high-profile government agency — especially at a time when local and federal bigwigs are all trying to bring downtown D.C. back from its post-Covid desolation.