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About Klingle Road
Public
Rights and Private Gain
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Public
Right and Private Gain
Mt. Pleasant, Crestwood, 16th Street Heights, Shepard Park, Rock Creek
East, Adams Morgan, Columbia Heights, Glover Park and Cathedral
Heights Advisory Neighborhood Commissions Voted to Repair and
Reopen Klingle Road as well as the City's Advisory Neighborhood
Commissioner's Assembly.
Klingle Road is a long-standing public right of way.
Closing
the street benefits a very, very small group of (well-off) property
owners who live in Woodley Park near Klingle Road, at the expense of a
much larger community of D.C. residents from both sides of Rock Creek
Park.
All of the land adjacent Klingle Road, except for the narrow public
right of way, is either privately or Federally owned.
D.C. street closing laws provide that ownership of the Klingle Road
public right of way could vest in the abutting private landowners, or
could be available for purchase by them, depending on how the original
right-of-way was obtained.
The contention that Klingle Road should be closed to provide pedestrian
access to Rock Creek Park is not justified. Many areas of Rock
Creek Park would benefit from improved pedestrian access -- this should
be addressed by installing more pedestrian pathways and sidewalks; it is
not necessary to close an important road.
There is no divine right to pedestrian access to Rock Creek Park from
any neighborhood. The only people with pedestrian access to Rock
Creek Park are those whose property abuts the Park. The rest of us
use a road to get into the Park, on foot or otherwise.
Closing Klingle Road reduces public access to Rock Creek Park.
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