Mass Firings at Parks and Rec
Today at least 10 managers at the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation were fired, less than a week after Mayor Adrian M. Fenty relieved DPR Director Clark E. Ray and replaced him with DCPS administrator Ximena Hartsock.
Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr. released a late statement this evening decrying the move: "Once again we are witnessing the flagrant disregard of our City's workforce....These are individuals with families, children, mortgages, and obligations. They are our neighbors and our fellow residents, and include many hardworking childcare service providers."
LL has heard rumblings, unconfirmed, that Hartsock's team at DCPS will be moving with her to Parks and Rec, where they will jointly administer DPR and DCPS programs this summer.
9:27 pm
This is huge. I guess Fenty didn't mind the fallout over his firing of Clark Ray. Expect lawsuits from fired employees. Expect them to be rehired with back pay.
9:30 pm
a mass lawsuit againts the district that is a sure win because of our Mayor and who will have to pay???? The citizens!!! How many of these lawsuits does Frnty think we can afford?
9:39 pm
Good move to bring the DCPS model to our parks. It was hell these last two years, living in a city where the pools opened up on time and summer camps thrived. Thank goodness we're gonna put a stop to that!
If Upshur Pool goes back to not being open on Memorial Day, as it always was pre-Clark Ray, I'm going on a hunger strike. Or at least a diet...
10:13 pm
ABF n 2010..... (Anybody But Fenty) n 2010.
10:31 pm
Once upon a time Clark wanted to drug test DPR employees. Pretty standard stuff, actually, but revolutionary in DC.
Can anyone tell me if got very far with that?
12:01 pm
Fenty is a power-mad tyrant. Colby King wrote about the tickets scandal today.
Here's the pay to play: Fenty & the council get two luxury suites at the ballpark. Fenty & the council agree to pay for Metro staying open late, rather than making the team pay, which is the standard practice here & everywhere else in the country.
If the people in DC weren't beaten down ex-slaves or self-consumed yuppies, Fenty & the other politicians wouldn't be able to steal & loot & hire & fire people as they choose. Unfortunately, people here are mice, so nothing will be done, & the criminal tyranny of Fenty & his thugs will continue unabated.
5:19 pm
I hope the staff at Marie Reed was let go. They are awful. Rude, lazy and unproffessional. This agency has potential but at the rec center level is not much good going on.
7:34 pm
Why don't we just come out and say it. We thought Fenty was going to be a good mayor. I think we are finding out that he is just an arrogant man. Just as bad, at times even worse, is the way that the City Council allows him to act as emperor. The great thing about having separate branches of government is that they are supposed to check each other. I don't expect this from light weights like Thomas or DUMMIES like Bowser. However, I am rather shocked by Graham, Barry, Cheh, Wells, and Catania's inability to exercise any source of legislative authority.
It seems like we are going back to the days before we had a control board.
9:37 pm
DPR sucks. I moved to DC from Arlington and the difference is abysmal. Columbia Heights is a decent facility but the place is dirty and not well managed. I went once and I am not going back again. I am sorry people lost their jobs but let's just come out and say it: Great workers hardly ever loose their jobs!
10:55 am
Again, our one term Mayor fires productive employees who disagree with him however, he keeps on the payroll a CFO who lost over 50 Million dollars of taypayers money on his watch and a Youth Sevice Director who's time out policy is a farced, defying Judges orders and endangering the citizens of the city. He will never get my vote again.
12:01 pm
so here's the thing...last years summer program was a dismal failure so
by firing all the top managers chaos at an agency where anarchy is the rule of the day is to be expected for the upcoming summer season. so now our dear mayor can say why yes things were in transition so not surprisingly - chaotic. he can sing that tune until -well hopefully until DC voters wise up and boot his a-- out of office.
12:12 pm
"Great workers hardly ever loose their jobs!"
Sadly, not true in either this economy or this administration.
1:31 pm
Citizens are going to have to get behind one person running for Mayor to get Fenty out. I hope that the citizens wise up enough to make this happen.
7:33 pm
Last years summer program a "dismal failure" based on what? - In Summer of 07 the Department served approximately 8,500 youth in Summer 09 the Department served over 13,500 - maybe you are referring to the Mayor's Summer Youth Employment Program - totally separate from DPR. As a tax payer who uses the Agency services - the improvement was steady and noticeable.
10:56 am
amused
yes the summer youth program
the various summer programs are often linked since many young people work for or thru dpr like the life guards at pools and other recreation programs.
9:25 am
Did you know this agency once set the standards for Recreation for the nation? Yes it has gone downhill, but why would it not? The leadership (or lack thereof)made sure of that. Management by intimidation, directives from people who have no clue what recretion is about, meddling from outsiders in the Fenty administration who have no place in the agency but do it becuse they can, etc, etc., And count on more of the same with a new school principal as the new chief.
9:49 am
"this agency once set the standards for Recreation for the nation?"
When exactly was that, the 50's?
11:51 am
Actually in the 80's. Hold the sarcasm and read the National Recreation and Parks Association's (NRPA, the peofessional organization)archives.
1:57 pm
The one in Ashburn, or the one in Minnesota? Or perhaps the reports are available on-line?
Regardless, from what I can see, the physical condition of the parks is better than it was in the late '80's, which is when I started paying attention.
2:05 pm
Oh, and going back to your original post, can we agree that "... meddling from outsiders in the Fenty administration who have no place in the agency but do it becuse they can, etc, etc.,"
Has nothing to do with anything that happened before 2006?
5:51 pm
Ray was corrupt and his leadership style was that of a dictorship, (much the way Fenty wanted him to be.)
Ray defined partnerships as kicking good DPR employees out of recreation centers to make room for non-profit organization take overs. These non-profits move their entire operation into DPR recreation centers and pay no rent or utility fees to the city for the use of these properties. Who picks up the cost, DC taxpayers! What do the non-profits do to enhance services? Nothing! The non-profits make false promices on paper call contracts, that they will enhance programs. Instead, Clark gives them existing DPR programs that were already housed inside of the center to justify the reason why rental fees should not be collected.
If you do not know what I am talking about, listen to the council hearings about the TR Center on 3030 G Street, SE, starting from December 08 to March 09. This is not the end of this controversy.
8:06 am
fenty seems arrogant but someones gotta have cojones to make changes quickly in dc. There is much to fix and little time. DPR had no plan and Ray was unresponsive, a bureaucrat in hiding, Dr. Hartsock is a smart lady. If she can sync up the dcps programs with dpr programs we may get 2+2 to equal 5. Good possibilities anyway.