Rock Creek Park could be renamed

First Up

If D.C. Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton has her way, we'll soon be talking about "Rock Creek National Park.” D.C.’s biggest park — like so many of its other parks — has actually always been run by the National Park Service. But Norton said she filed a bill to change the name to “highlight its significance to the nation.”

A change could also serve as a kind of nudge to the park service, which many locals lambaste as an absentee landlord for the local city parks in its collection. Maybe they’d fix the deteriorating roadways in the upper part of the park if its name reminded people about who to blame for all those potholes.

Here’s a better idea: How about turning the joint over to D.C. altogether? And, while they’re at it, doing the same for Malcolm X Park, Logan Circle, and all those random grassy triangles arrayed across the District — 356 parcels in all, most of them not part of the hallowed terrain of the National Mall.

The Trump administration’s park-cleaning binge is great. But it’s also a reminder that the national government is built for overseeing national monuments — and not for managing the ballfields, dog runs, and picnic areas that urban neighbors want from their nearby park. A city government is always going to be better at that. And if they’re not, we can always vote them out of office.

What D.C.'s Talking About

Another Poop Spill? Emergency repairs are taking place on the Potomac Interceptor — the same pipe that sent sewage into the river this winter. This time, workers found signs of corrosion and broken structural supports on a different section of pipe in Potomac. Beyond the threat to drinking water, the pipe threatens to become a black eye for District and federal officials, whose slow movement and odd communications around the first spill became a national issue.

Tax Hike Ahead. The D.C. Council voted Tuesday to restore hundreds of millions of dollars in social-services cuts that Mayor Muriel Bowser had proposed in order to balance the city's hard-hit budget. They'll do it this year, controversially, by tapping D.C.'s rainy-day fund. But my City Cast colleague Emma Uber reported that Council Chairman Phil Mendelson said it is more than likely we will see a tax increase next year.

Who's Rich, Cont'd. The "wealth tax” floated by Councilmember Brianne Nadeau now has a new threshold: $500,000. Previously, Nadeau had suggested a tax on the passive incomes of couples making as little as $250,000 a year, a range that includes a decent number of two-career public servants. The Council hasn't acted on the bill, but Nadeau hinted this week that it could be introduced later.

Arching in Double-Time. President Donald Trump really, really wants his arch before he leaves office. The Washington Post's Dan Diamond reports on plans for 20-hour workdays to speed construction — and a 320-foot crane, which is an issue since planes en route to DCA can fly as low as 500 feet. The Arc de Trump still needs formal approval from the (Trump-appointed) bodies that oversee D.C. projects, and also faces litigation. A 10-day public comment period ends next Monday.

War on Terror Memorial. The folks in charge of the National War on Terrorism Memorial clearly didn’t get the memo about D.C.’s Trump-era return to classical European architecture. The design concept, unveiled yesterday, is supposed to look like “a ribbon” and features wood slats and a grassy top. It’s supposed to go on a patch of parkland close to the Vietnam Memorial — and currently the site of Henry Bacon Field, yet another endangered National Mall ballfield. Good luck with that.

Finally: Elephants! The National Zoo in August is not everybody’s idea of a good time — which is why the Zoo is forever looking for ways to entice visitors. This year they’re throwing Elefest, a weekend-long celebration that will also show off baby elephant Linh Mai, the park’s cutest new resident. Festivities kick off August 7 and include yoga alongside the elephant herd, elephant-themed story time, and an elephant-themed happy hour for adults. Tickets for the themed events will cost you: A yoga session starts at $75.

Did someone forward you this email? To subscribe, visit https://dc.citycast.fm/newsletter

D.C. Problems, Solved

City Cast’s Emma Uber recently experienced a very 2026-in-D.C. surprise: She got two different ballots at her apartment — and neither of them were for her. With its emphasis on making it easy to vote, the District mails ballots to voters until the voters say that they’ve moved. The problem is that a lot of people forget to do that. Board of Elections chair Gary Thompson says thousands get returned every year.

Thompson waved off claims — amplified on social media — that this leads to fraud, noting that they still verify signatures. He said he could count the number of wrongly signed ballots in the last election “on one hand – maybe two.”

So what should you do? First and foremost, Thompson said, don’t fill out a ballot that’s not yours – that’s a crime. Instead, mark the ballots “return to sender” and put them back in the mailbox or drop them in one of the 55 ballot drop boxes across the city.

What To Do