Re: {Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders} Don’t ‘High Line’ Georgetown’s C&O Canal

This op-ed is one of the stupider things the Post has published. After I read it, I went link diving and found the actual proposal under discussion. You can download it here: https://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?parkID=177&projectID=70176&documentID=93706

The plan is limited to Georgetown and does not dewater the canal. The goal seems to be to create something like Riverwalk in San Antonio, which is a fun place. If you haven't been, check out the movie Cloak & Dagger with Dabney Coleman. A chase scene was filmed there, if I recall. 

Back to the op-ed. The author's actual objections seem to be: 1) they will plant flowers; 2) they will pave some of the path. That's his whole beef with the plan, at least the substantive parts.

I don't know what to say to #1, but according to the presentation #2 is necessary to widen the path in places so two people can walk side by side (creating an overhang in some spots, which can't be done with dirt) and to ensure accessibility for mobility devices -- wheelchairs, walkers, strollers, etc. My kid just stopped using her stroller but this plan sounds like the kind of place I would have loved to visit when I was SAHDing her. (The tide lock hammocks look awesome, too - we would go tomorrow if they were there.) But also, accessibility is the law.

I totally agree with Mark -- Congress should give NPS the funds to fix Fletcher's and take better care of the canal. But the push for this plan is coming from private enterprise in Georgetown, and it looks like the funding will be a public/private partnership. I reckon if we ponied up several million to fix Fletcher's, the government could find the rest. But we don't have that kind of pull. 

On that point, I'm going to invoke the name of Founder Dan: he used to talk all the time about how we want more people to use the Potomac, so that more people would care about it and help us protect it. Seems like that's true for the canal as well: the more people who visit the canal and enjoy it, the more likely NPS is to get funding to keep it in good shape. For a lot of people in the area, the canal is a stinky ditch running through a not-pleasant part of Georgetown. If they saw it as a unique recreational opportunity worth protecting, we'd be closer to fixing Fletcher's.

I don't see that this plan degrades fishing quality in the canal. If anything, it seems like it will improve the habitat, though granted it might be harder to fish if more people are around. But there's 184.5 miles of canal to fish, and this only affects one mile in Georgetown.

As for Milton Friedman,  a few things to remember:

1) The push for this plan is coming from private enterprise in Georgetown.

2) The C&O canal was created by the Federal government.

3) The government owns/manages plenty of deserts.

Miles

On Sunday, June 30, 2019 at 6:10:35 PM UTC-4, Tom Steeley wrote:

Milton Friedman once said, "if you put government in charge of a desert there would be a shortage of sand."  I guess the corrollary to that is that if you put government in charge of a canal, there will be a shortage of water.

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