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Text Box: Glen Echo Park site manager Kim Elder made her final appearance at a town council meeting on Aug. 11 to inform the town of several renovation projects that will soon be underway. Ms. Elder, who is being reassigned to Ford’s Theatre in Washington. DC, introduced her acting successor, Maria Capozzi. Ms.Capozzi is currently the curator for the Clara Barton House and Glen Echo Park.. Mayor Debbie Beers thanked Ms. Elder for all of her work on behalf of the town, “every time we have asked you for something, you have immediately acted upon it.” Councilmember Nancy Long added she wanted to compliment Elder on her “outstanding, wise and gracious stewardship at Clara Barton House and Glen Echo Park.” Ms. Capozzi said she was looking forward to continuing to work with the town. The Park is preparing for Phase 5 of the renovation process, Ms. Elder said. The next projects to be tackled are rehabilitation of the Crystal Pool façade and the Caretaker’s Cottage, demolition of the old bathhouse, and renovation of the playground. The playground renovation project is going to address many safety issues by improving the grading, installing benches so the playground is more “parent-friendly,” replacing two damaged pieces of playground equipment, and resurfacing the playground with rubber matting. Mayor Beers said she had been approached by a concerned town resident who was worried about the toxicity levels of the matting. Ms. Elder replied that a great deal of research went into the selection of this material. She said the matting has been used in a number of other local parks and National Park Service locations, citing Rock Creek Park as the next closest

Text Box: location. She stated that another matting was rejected because it was tended to get too hot in the sun and posed a burn threat to children playing on the surface. The new matting will eliminate the loose material currently covering the playground. That mulch-like substance is prone to washing away during heavy rainstorms due to runoff from the Spanish Ballroom, she said. She said there are no immediate plans to rebuild the fire-destroyed maintenance pen. Initially it appeared that it was going to be replaced speedily, but budget cuts throughout the National Park Service have made the project a much-lower priority. Mayor Beers asked Ms. Elder for help in securing permission to improve the drain grate on the lawn of Glen Echo Park near the intersection of Oxford Rd and University Ave. She said the grate is on uncontested park land, and she would like to see quick action because the county has funding and is ready to do the repairs and improvements. The mayor stressed that the inadequate drain size is overwhelmed during heavy rainstorms, creating problems for residents of the town.