Posted on behalf of Ann Friedman:

Gateway Park West is the section of Gateway Park bounded by Fort Myer Drive, Lee Highway and Nash Street. The plants on the periphery of the park are maintained by the Rosslyn BID; the interior plantings are the County's responsibility. Over the past months, the vegetation within the park had not been cared for – there were overgrown plants, invasive vines, dead trees and weeds everywhere!

The County's Parks and Natural Resources Division assessed the situation at the request of one of our members and this week cleared the area of all overgrown vegetation and weeds. Caroline Temmermand, the County Division Chief, is considering replacing the large, overgrown plants in the Spring with "natives, ... to create a space that requires less maintenance and water."

The North Rosslyn Civic Association is working with Parks and Recreation to create an "adopt-a-park" program for Gateway West. Neighborhood volunteers would provide maintenance assistance and oversight of conditions in the park area.

"Friends of West Gateway Park"

At our last general meeting there was some discussion about starting up a “Friends of West Gateway Park” as an NRCA committee. Since then Lyndell Core (the Arlington County Parks Department manager for Rosslyn-area parks) spoke to the NRCA Executive Committee indicating his hope that a “Friends” group be created.

Let’s initiate a “Friends of West Gateway Park” at the upcoming NRCA general meeting. As I understand it the group would have two responsibilities:
1. Two or three clean up dates per year.
2. Provide community suggestion/input to the Parks Department on ways to make the West Gateway Park more attractive to users.