Why do this?

I’m Gordon Chaffin, a job searching community volunteer and public policy advocate. This is my newsletter with local news and researched opinions.

Back to Basics on Breaking Community Amenities

I’ve been too busy with job searching and dog walking to write a full newsletter post, but I’m angry enough today to send a quick note and ask for help.

On my bike ride yesterday to an afternoon dog walk appointment, I passed one of the rest stations deployed and maintained by my community nonprofit, Friends of the Metropolitan Branch Trail (FoMBT). That station — on a trail segment next to Catholic University’s campuses — was torn apart. The big blue water filter and dispenser — a $400 purchase we raised money and for which we obtained a grant — was ripped off its moorings and onto the ground. The trash bin and table for trash were flipped upside down. Nearly everything that we hadn’t locked down with a cable lock was torn asunder.

Why would somebody do this? Why would they destroy a community-funded trail water and rest station that a nonprofit run by neighbors worked tirelessly to set up with volunteers and raise donated money to provide? Why is it so hard to do the basics for a community corridor — an expanding walk-bike trail that now serves as many people during the summer as a minor arterial road? With ongoing and future projects, in D.C. and Maryland, the MBT will connect people from Capitol Hill, D.C., all the way up to Silver Spring, MD!

I didn’t have tools to repair the station when I came upon it and only had time to pick things up and put them upright on the tables. The damage to the water filter isn’t fatal, but the supply company LifeStraw doesn’t offer replacement parts for what is broken. At some level, I can tolerate the graffiti our equipment attracts, with its flat surfaces. I don’t like it, but I can tolerate it. We can raise money for elephant snot or some other remover. But, why pull the water filter off its anchor and topple it over? Why attempt to destroy everything that’s not locked down?

If you share my desire to improve the user experience of D.C.’s Met Branch Trail, I hope you will take action to support FoMBT. Tax-deductible donations help us furnish these rest/water stations and expand to other programming. We’re looking for many more volunteers to help with trail stations and build up community outreach. We’re ultimately pushing the owner-operators of the MBT (D.C. and the National Parks Service) to install permanent drinking fountains, restrooms, trash/recycling — CCTV cameras and lighting to improve safety — and covered seating. We have a template email here that you can send to those decision-makers. We appreciate Instagram followers, too!

Check out this nonprofit supporting our neighbors

DISCLAIMER: All opinions and analyses in this newsletter are those solely of Gordon Chaffin and do not represent his employer or community groups with which he’s affiliated.