sure it is hot, sure it is humid, sure it always rains during the show you REALLY want to see, sure the sound is not ideal, BUT CAN YOU IMAGINE A DC SUMMER WITHOUT FORT RENO????????????
Can you?
This just in…from the Going Out Gurus blog, information that has everyone wondering what is going to happen?
Fort Reno Park, the site of an annual summer concert series that is one of D.C.’s most beloved and longest-running outdoor events, is closed immediately and indefinitely after United States Geological Survey satellite imaging reports found high levels of arsenic in the soil.
William Line, a spokesman for the National Park Service, said that the NPS would continue to work with the Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency to determine any public health risks and further courses of action. He refused to give any timetable for a possible reopening and said that to speculate would be irresponsible. Snow-fencing was erected around the perimeter of the park at 6 a.m. today.
The closing of the park raises questions about the fate of the Fort Reno Summer Concert Series, which was set to begin a twice-weekly series of free shows in mid-June. No list of artists of dates has been announced for 2008, but many of the city’s most famous punk and indie rock bands have performed on Fort Reno’s stage over the last 39 years, including Fugazi, the Dismemberment Plan, Ted Leo, Q and Not U and Velocity Girl.
We’ll update this blog post with more information when we get it.
– David
UPDATE: When contacted by phone, Fort Reno Summer Concert Series organizer Amanda MacKaye was caught completely off guard by the news. The NPS had indicated that groups with permits to use the park were notified of the closure, but apparently that wasn’t the case quite yet. “It’s almost comical in a way,” MacKaye said. “Just this morning I was thinking how things were finally coming together, how we had a few shows lined up, and now this.” She said she would provide further updates after speaking to her contacts within the NPS.
more info here:
http://www.nbc4.com/news/
and………
previous fort reno posts from our archives:
http://www.brightestyoungthings.com/live-dc/thursday-fort-reno-photos/
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http://www.brightestyoungthings.com/live-dc/photos-first-night-fort-reno/
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http://www.brightestyoungthings.com/music/georgie-james-at-fort-reno/
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http://www.brightestyoungthings.com/live-dc/fort-reno-kicks-off-with-boom-orangutangs/
all photos:Alyssa Lesser
Suck. Suck. Suck. Suck. Suck. Suck. Suck.
May 14, 2008 at 6:34 pmgod damn it.
May 14, 2008 at 6:37 pmAre you fucking kidding me?
This is simple. Put up a sign: do not eat or breathe in the soil. End of danger, end of liability. Fucking government…
May 14, 2008 at 7:05 pmDamn!!
That’s funny/sucky and ironic. I was in the shower Tuesday morning and was so excited about ft. reno’s coming that I wrote a cheesy little poem that went something like this…
Ft. Reno and the distance
from our house to your house
from your house to our house
from a heart to a heart and
from this soul to that soul
with green grass and guitars
with green grass and guitars
with green grass and guitars…
Ft. Reno
Awwwman
May 14, 2008 at 9:58 pmGreg, arsenic contamination at 80-100 ppm in topsoil is indicative of a larger problem. As Fort Reno sits high in DC, there is a strong potential for drainage and seepage of that arsenic into the water supply of not only Tenleytown but many points south and at lower elevations. It’s not a simple solution of “Don’t eat the grass”, but a larger problem that could effect people outside of Fort Reno. As the Spring Lake region was a dumping/testing ground for chemical weapons, this arsenic contamination may be cause from WWI-era buried chemical containers that are now leaking. I hate to invoke the “Think of the children” defense, but if that ground water run off goes 100 meters immediately south, it contaminates the school right there. If that ground water run-off seeps into the water used at Whole Foods, they’re spraying their customer’s produce with Arsenic at higher levels than the EPA finds acceptable.
Finally, chronic arsenic poisoning can occur from exposures as low as 10 parts per billion. Arsenic is not easily removed from the human system, and can build up in the liver for years. Low levels of arsenic contamination could have reached into top-soil and grass. Thousands of picnickers over the years who have said “well, a little dirt never hurt” may find that a little dirt, did, in fact, hurt, when compounded over dozens of events attended. So you can’t dismiss the liability concern as “Don’t eat the dirt, morons.” Arsenic abatement is a real concern to not only patrons of Fort Reno, but also the wider Tenleytown and NW DC community.
May 15, 2008 at 9:09 amA summer without Fort Reno concerts is not a summer at all.
May 15, 2008 at 9:22 amDave - the arsenic is not going to seep into the water used at Whole FOods.
Shit, if this is from the early 1900’s then it’s been affecting groundwater for almost 100 years now, and testing of the water in all the areas surrounding Ft. Reno would have shown as much.
Also the isea that a few grains of soil that winds up in food, compounded over dozens of events is still only a few grains of soil, which may or may not (as it’s topsoil which comes and goes) even be contaminated.
I’m not saying that it’s not an issue of -some- concern, but to cancel events there is irrational overreactive panty-jerk nonsense.
May 15, 2008 at 9:47 amMichael,
You mean the 2007 testing that showed arsenic at elevated levels in groundwater in the Spring Valley area?
From the EPA:
“In late 2003 perchlorate was discovered in groundwater at the site. A groundwater study is underway. Thirty nine monitoring wells have been installed near the Dalecarlia reservoir, adjacent to waste and munition disposal sites in the Spring Valley neighborhood and in other selected locations. Groundwater sampling data collected between 2005 and 2007 has identified two locations in the site where groundwater is contaminated with perchlorate, and one location where groundwater is contaminated with arsenic at elevated levels. The groundwater study continues in 2008 with installation of additional monitoring wells and another round of well and surface water sampling.”
I’d rather they look into it further after being made aware of it, which is what they’re doing.
May 15, 2008 at 10:01 amDave: I understand the larger ecosystem concerns; and I’m not saying don’t decon the place, but honestly, the source is more likely in the compound proper rather than the grounds on the outside holding the concert series. Find out where it is exactly, seal off the appropriate buffer area and leave the rest of it, with the disclaimer.
The main route of arsenic exposure and risk is to, as you indicated, soluble arsenic and then to airborne arsenic (mainly seen as significant in the case of mines or fumes from smelters). Top soil exposure is hypothesized to have a negative effect, but no conclusive results have been presented that I know of (aka a brief pubmed survey).
Soluble arsenic metabolism is quite fast actually, half-lives of As and its metabolites range from 24-86h; I didn’t dredge anything up after 10 minutes on particulate elimination. The cases of As-induced carcinogenesis I’ve seen reported usually involve chronic ingestion of contaminated drinking water or the inhalation of highly contaminated fumes, hardly the same as the less efficient and less significant exposure in the much less frequent, picnic-type setting.
And trust me, I know all about the dangers of environmental contaminants at military facilities. I used to work at a bio lab in Fort Detrick (home of anthrax and a huge underground cache of weapons that has been in decon for years now).
May 15, 2008 at 10:07 amMy computer does stupid things and my mouse jumps and stuff I highlight gets jumbled and I don’t edit my own material.
Edit: Scratch “Also the isea that a few grains of soil that winds up in food, compounded over dozens of events is still only a few grains of soil, which may or may not (as it’s topsoil which comes and goes) even be contaminated.”
Change to: “Also the idea that a few grains of soil that wind up in food, compounded over dozens of events, are a threat is kind of far-reaching, because it’s still only a few grains of soil, which may or may not (as topsoil comes and goes) even be contaminated.
May 15, 2008 at 10:13 amGreg,
It’s Thursday - They were made aware of the situation on Tuesday. Maybe that’s the most logical route (deconning the compound). That they didn’t have the answer yesterday isn’t something that I’m holding against them now.
Michael,
Yeah, odds are low, but if the exposure risk is there, even if it’s unlikely, I’d rather it be investigated and addressed.
May 15, 2008 at 10:29 amDave - does our drinking water come from groundwater? I was under the impression that we didn’t dig wells anymore and instead we sucked it out of the Potomac using a big old pipe. Now, granted, groundwater can seep into the streams and feeders to the Potomac, but then it’s mixing in with billions of gallons of water, and that water is all processed and tested.
Again - if it were a problem with our drinking supply then we’d have heard about it long before now as that shit is monitored by the minute.
As far as looking into it - absolutely. Look into it. That doesn’t mean, however, that it is any sort of a threat to people sitting on the grass listening to music or, even, having a few grains of dirt end up in their food.
So look into it, but keep the place open.
As it stands I’ve never been there. I don’t much like people in large numbers. But I will rail against the stupidity of it all.
May 15, 2008 at 10:36 amAlso Greg, thanks for the metabolite/half-life information. I didn’t know it was that soluble. WHO seems to indicate long-term exposure causes liver damage over time, though, from low doses.
May 15, 2008 at 10:36 amUm, what about Rock Creek Park? Or Malcolm X Park? Or Carter Barron? Or…
May 15, 2008 at 6:17 pmNo biggie… the line-up this year pretty much bites anyway.
June 17, 2008 at 10:31 am
This sucks.
May 14, 2008 at 6:11 pm