THURSDAY, AUGUST 29 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE B5
BY PATRICIA SULLIVAN
After Labor Day weekend,
when the season ends for Great
Waves Waterpark in Alexandria,
the crowds drain away like the
last chlorinated jets of water
until its reopening on Memorial
Day.
This year, however, there will
be a new attraction at the heavily
used regional park along the
Capital Beltway: an ice rink and a
winter village w ith holiday lights.
Coming in fall 2020, a new place
for soccer, basketball and tennis.
After years of acrimony be-
tween the city of Alexandria,
which is the landowner, and
Nova Parks, which operates the
water park, the two parties have
agreed to add activities for the
nine months of the year the pools
are closed.
The $800,000 rink and light
show will be installed this fall at
Cameron Run Regional Park, a
26-acre site where Great Waves
Waterpark operates. Nova Parks,
formerly known as the Northern
Virginia Regional Park Authority,
plans to have it up and running
Nov. 15.
Alexandria is also planning to
add a temporary small soccer
field called a “futsal” court as well
as basketball and tennis courts
on the existing parking lot, but
that’s probably a year away, said
Jack Browand, division chief for
the city’s recreation, parks and
cultural activities.The court, which comes in a kit
that city employees would assem-
ble, is about the size of a hockey
rink, Browand said, and the de-
partment would request city
funds for its purchase next sum-
mer.
“We ended up coming to a
place where in the future, the city
wants to see something different
on that site... but our ability to
pay for it is going to be very
limited in the near term,” said
Mayor Justin Wilson (D). “We setthe table that eventually the city
will take the site back, but no-
body wants to see the site shut-
tered while we think about what
will go t here... and we’re not in a
position t o fund anything big and
dramatic today.”
The park authority’s first pro-
posal in 2016 to tie a lease
extension to the purchase of a
historic home in Old To wn did
not sit well with the city council.
Subsequent discussions led to
threats to withdraw from the
60-year regional parks alliance
before both parties came to an
agreement last winter in which
Nova Parks got a 10-year lease
extension as long as it gets winter
activities underway.
“We are hearing from the city
that they want it to be more of a
year-round park,” said Paul Gil-
bert, the executive director of
Nova Parks. “ The best way is to do
multiple seasonal activities.”
The authority feels confident
that the combination of a new
55-by-80-foot ice rink and a “win-
ter wonderland” of lighted trees,
artificial snowfall, fire pits and
hot drinks will draw a substantial
crowd through November, De-
cember and January.
That confidence comes from
operating two similar holidaylight shows: a drive-through dis-
play at Bull Run Regional Park,
which draws about 40,000 vehi-
cles per year, and another at
Vienna’s Meadowlark Botanical
Gardens, which draws 70,000
walkers.
The “village” will close in early
January; the rink will stay open
through February. It takes a
month to disassemble the rink,
and then it’s time for the existing
batting cages and mini-golf
course to reopen.
“A s a mother of three, I’m
always looking for that family
activity in a safe environment in
winter,” said Blythe B. Russian,
the park operations superinten-
dent. “This is the place you’ll
want to go for your holiday card
photos... and the cost will be
similar to taking the family to a
movie.”
General admission for all ages
will be $5; skaters will pay an
additional $8, and skate rentals
will be available for $4. Children
under 2 will be admitted free.
The venue will be open 5 to
10 p.m. from Nov. 1 5 to Jan. 5. The
ice rink will stay open until
Feb. 28 on Friday evenings, and
from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays
and Sundays.
[email protected]VIRGINIA
Water park site to host o≠season fun
NOVA PARKSSome of the displays that will be available this winter at Cameron Run Regional Park in Alexandria. This is part of the expansion of the
park’s use beyond Great Waves Waterpark. When the pool is closed, the park will include things such as an ice rink and a winter village.
ises.
“In light of the tragedy, we see
an opportunity to improve, and
that is not to close a case after
three attempts but to continue
working and working to better
protect our residents,” Chapprah
said Wednesday.
Four city employees have been
placed on leave while the city
retains an outside firm to exam-
ine what went wrong.
The DCRA is among the most
maligned agencies in D.C. gov-
ernment. Its sprawling portfolio
includes construction permits,
business licensing and code en-
forcement, and the agency is a
magnet for complaints from resi-
dents and business owners.
A 2017 report by D.C. Auditor
Kathleen Patterson found that
the DCRA did not strictly regu-
late unoccupied or derelict build-
FIRE FROM B1 ings, and frequently granted ex-
emptions from those rules that
did not appear to be justified. The
result is that the city is losing
millions of dollars in revenue
from taxes and fines while build-
ings become structurally unsafe
and “magnets for illegal activity,”
the auditor’s report said.
For years, lawmakers havebeen discussing an overhaul of
the agency.
“It’s too big with too many
different functions, from permit
review to calibrating weights and
measures to professional licens-
ing to housing inspections,” said
D.C. Council Chairman Phil Men-
delson (D), who is pushing legis-
lation to restructure the agency.
“Breaking up the agency into
two components, one of which is
focused solely on housing code
enforcement and the other on
building permits, would reduce
the distractions with all the other
functions,” he said.
Council member Brandon T.
To dd (D-Ward 4), whose district
includes the site of the deadly
fire, attended the funeral
Wednesday for 9-year-old Yafet,
who was a student at Barnard
Elementary. Teachers and staff-
ers at the school have been rais-
ing money through GoFundMe tohelp his mother.
“I was at the service for the
young boy, and it underscores the
need for making whatever types
of investments we need at D CRA,”
To dd said. “I am outraged that a
life was lost because we failed,
the government failed, DCRA
failed.”
To dd said he will take an “addi-
tional look” at the bill to break up
the agency, but he also said the
council should consider other
options such as funding more
investigators.
Bowser administration offi-
cials have opposed the pending
legislation, arguing that it would
not address the issues of enforce-
ment and would create unneces-
sary administrative costs.
Chrappah said his agency is on
track to transform itself by the
end of next year and that he
already restructured the division
responsible for investigating ille-
gal rentals before the fire.
“We are absolutely on the right
path,” Chrappah said. “DCRA’s
challenges are challenges that
will be overcome.”
His agency has issued 87 cita-
tions for unlicensed rental prop-
erties this year and issued 118
citations last year.
“It’s certainly not the only ille-
gal rooming house,” said council
member Elissa Silverman (I-At
Large). “We should also be reach-
ing out to the Ethiopian Commu-
nity Center and other community
groups to find where there might
be similar conditions and get
them inspected.”
Some said the deadly fire
showed the importance of ag-
gressive code enforcement.
“I’m hopeful that this incident
will have a sanguinary effect on
employees who have not been
serious enough about their jobs,”
Mendelson said. “ ‘I went to the
door, I knocked the door, nobody
answered, case closed?’ That’s
wholly unacceptable.”
[email protected]D.C. agency could be split up after fatal house fire
the same.”
Hansen, who had worked for
the city for more than 13 years a nd
served as city manager for three,
did not respond to a message left
with his office seeking comment.
“I have enormous respect for
Dave, and we are going to miss
him. It’s b een a tough day, b ut this
is a resilient and dedicated or-
ganization, and we’re going to
carry on,” said Julie G. Hill, a city
spokeswoman who had worked
with him for about four years.
Some victims’ families had crit-
icized Hansen, saying he has been
slow to respond to their need for
more information about the
shooting. They also urged the city
council to initiate an outside in-
vestigation that would examine
the workplace culture inside city
hall.
Last month, the city agreed,
retaining a Chicago-based secu-
rity consultant, Hillard Heintze,
to investigate the shooting. On
Tuesday, the consulting firm pro-
vided its first update on the pro-
gress of its investigation. Hill, the
city spokeswoman, said Hansen’s
resignation was not in any way
connected to the firm’s interim
report.
“My opinion is that he has done
the right thing under the overall
circumstances,” said Kevin Mar-
tingayle, an attorney who repre-
sents Jason Nixon, the widower of
a city employee who was killed in
the attack. Martingayle described
Hansen as “a smart guy” with
“some good qualities” but who
also had a temper that created
undue stress in the workplace and
alienated some in the city of about
450,000 people.
“When he’s acting under pres-
sure or dealing with angry citi-
zens, he has often slipped into a
style of communication that is not
well suited for that job,” Martin-
gayle said. “I think that he was
already dealing with head winds
at the time when the mass shoot-
ing occurred.”VIRGINIA BEACH FROM B1 Martingayle said Hansen fur-
ther angered residents, his client
and other victims’ families by say-
ing the city had no inkling of
disciplinary problems or any oth-
er warning about the gunman,
DeWayne Craddock, despite re-
ports of conflict between him and
colleagues.
Nixon, whose wife, Kate, died
in the attack, said Wednesday that
his wife, as the city’s compliance
officer, had written up Craddock
more than once for incompetence
and showing disrespect toward
her. Other employees, particular-
ly women, also complained that
Craddock seemed hostile to them,
Nixon said, citing conversations
he and his wife had about her job
before her death.“They had all kinds of red
flags,” Nixon said. “He didn’t like
women at all.... He didn’t like
that Kate was higher than him.”
Ye t it is not clear whether the
city took action to address Crad-
dock’s problems, Nixon said.
Since the shooting, officials have
been reluctant to provide more
information about Craddock’s
record other than a brief email
announcing his resignation for
“personal reasons.”
Nixon said he worries that the
whole truth might still not
emerge. But he also said he was
glad to see Hansen go.
“I blame him for all of this,”
Nixon said. “I blame him for the
way he covered everything up....
He wasn’t upfront with us.”
[email protected]Va. Beach leader cautions
against ‘pointing fingers’
SALWAN GEORGES/THE WASHINGTON POSTSeveral months before a fire killed a boy and a man at 708 Kennedy St. NW, a police officer had warned
of dangerous conditions in the crowded, unlicensed rooming house.
“As a mother of three,
I’m always looking for
that family activity in a
safe environment in
winter.”
Blythe B. Russian, park operations
superintendent for Nova ParksPATRICK SEMANSKY/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Virginia Beach City Manager David L. Hansen speaks at a news
conference after the mass shooting in May. Some victims’ families
have criticized him for a lack of transparency.“I think that he was
already dealing with
head winds at the time
when the mass shooting
occurred.”
Kevin Martingayle, attorneyBY TOM JACKMAN
A Montgomery County man
who allegedly planned to drive a
truck into a crowd at National
Harbor was indicted Wednesday
and accused of attempting to
provide support — “specifically,
himself” — to the Islamic State
extremist group, the Maryland
U.S. attorney’s office said.
Rondell Henry, 28, of German-
town was arrested March 28 as
he approached a U-Haul van he
allegedly had stolen in Alexan-
dria two days earlier. Police had
been watching the van, and when
they took Henry into custody, he
allegedly revealed far more than
just a plan for auto theft.
Henry wanted to create “panic
and chaos,” the “same as what
happened in France,” he report-
edly told investigators, according
to a motion filed by federal
prosecutors in April. In Nice,
France, in 2016, an alleged Islam-
ist militant drove a truck onto a
promenade filled with people
and killed 86.
“I was just going to keep
driving and driving and driving,”
prosecutors quoted Henry as say-
ing. “I wasn’t going to stop.”
Assistant federal public de-
fender Michael CitaraManis said
in April that “The only evidence
the government has to submit iswhat they claim Mr. Henry” t old
law enforcement. CitaraManis
said Henry’s rights were violated
during questioning. Prosecutors
said Henry spoke after being read
his Miranda rights.
Henry was ordered held with-
out bond.
Henry reportedly told investi-
gators that he harbored “hatred”
for “disbelievers” who were not
Muslims, that he had watched
videos of foreign acts of terror-
ism — including the Nice truck
attack — and wanted to emulate
them.
Federal prosecutors said Hen-
ry stole the rental van from an
Alexandria parking garage on
March 26, then drove to Dulles
International Airport early the
next day hoping to kill people
and attract news coverage.
But there weren’t large crowds
at D ulles at 5 a.m. on March 27, so
he eventually drove to the Na-
tional Harbor shopping and en-
tertainment district, prosecutors
said. Again, early on a weekday,
not many people were around, so
Henry parked the van “and
walked around until he found
what he considered an ideal spot
for an attack, in a popular part of
National Harbor,” according to
an April motion to hold Henry
without bond.
Henry decided to wait a day
and hid in a boat overnight,
prosecutors said. Meanwhile, po-
lice found the van, placed it
under surveillance, then arrested
Henry as he approached.
Henry previously was charged
only with interstate auto theft.
[email protected]MARYLANDSuspect in alleged plot
faces additional charge
Prosecutors say man
intended to ram crowd
at National Harbor“I am outraged that a
life was lost because we
failed, the government
failed, DCRA failed.”
Brandon T. Todd, D.C. Council
member representing the area where
the fire occurred, referring to the city
agency responsible for housing codes