Why can't walkers or soccer players enjoy Draper Drive Park until 11PM the same way tennis & pickleball players enjoy Van Dyck Park until 11PM?  
 

TO:
City of Fairfax  Mayor Catherine S. Read
City of Fairfax  Councilmember Billy M. Bates
City of Fairfax  Councilmember Kate G. Doyle Feingold
City of Fairfax  Councilmember Jeffrey C. Greenfield
City of Fairfax  Councilmember So P. Lim
City of Fairfax  Councilmember D. Thomas Ross
City of Fairfax  Councilmember Jon R. Stehle, Jr.
City of Fairfax  Police Chief Erin Schaible 
Virginia Attorney General Jason S, Miyares

THE SITUATION
On Tuesday February 6, 2024 around 9pm, I was talking on the phone while strolling in the parking lot at Draper Drive Park located at 9797 Beech Drive, Fairfax, Virginia 22031. 

Your police officer drove into the park with no headlights on. He exited his police car and approached me shining his flashlight at me. He instantly accused me of trespassing and claimed there were no trespassing signs all over the place. After conducting an illegal search and seizure, your officer dismissed me. No report of this incident has been mentioned on the Fairfax City Crime Map website.  

 

THE PROBLEMS
1) The main entrance to the park has no signs that warn visitors to keep out after dark or else they will be prosecuted for trespassing.  In fact, no park managed by Fairfax City has signs warning people to stay out after dark.  https://youtu.be/gw4Rgf9PUnM

2) A pedestrian entrance on the north side of the park from the Yorkville Cooperative neighborhood has no signs at all. https://youtu.be/YsYNPOAHHw4

3) Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority's  Gateway Regional Park has a signs that clearly state "Park Closed At Dark No Trespassing."     

 

4) The Van Dyck Park, has multiple signs indicating the tennis (& pickleball) courts are open until 11PM!    
 

 

 

 

6) Fairfax County's Towers Park has "No Trespassing" signs. However, their problem is these signs are directed at only one of the two neighborhoods adjacent to the park.

 

 

 

 

7) A lying police officer plus the lack of signs at all parks  warning the people to keep out the park after dark is a predictable recipe for an "accidental" injury or killing by your police officers. 

 

 

SOME SOLUTIONS
1) If you don't want people in the public parks after dark, then install signs at ALL entrances that clearly indicate so.  Use warning signs similar to the signs at Fairfax County's Towers Park and NVRP's Gateway Regional Park.  

2) Remove all officers that have established a pattern of engaging in illegal unconstitutional searches & seizures at Draper Drive Park. 

3) Abolish your discriminatory selective enforcement of trespassing that unfairly targets the homeless and other people that use Draper Drive Park after dark. Uphold the Constitution and direct your Task Force on Homelessness to do so as well. Stop exterminating & criminalizing homeless people from public parks.

 

REFERENCES
1. Fairfax City Crime Map https://cityoffairfaxpd.connect.socrata.com/

2. Fairfax City Homelessness Task Force  https://www.fairfaxva.gov/government/homelessness-task-force
https://engage.fairfaxva.gov/homelessness-task-force

3. October 2023 Taskforce Report https://fairfax.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=11&clip_id=3145&meta_id=109389

4. A Playbook For Criminalizing Homeless https://static1.squarespace.com/static/6283b20d7013340d81fd360f/t/6355b42c2c3f423a90e5290d/1666561073721/Defending_Crimes_of_Homelessness.pdf

5. Draper Drive Park https://maps.app.goo.gl/AuGpZ47QJbtST5ke8

6. Stafford Drive Park https://maps.app.goo.gl/gz4jzfGqJWVwsABY8

7. Thaiss Park https://maps.app.goo.gl/Nf2aaoDQJK75P9MT7

8. Ratcliffe Park https://maps.app.goo.gl/rpTvqWbEtxr1fMBv6

9. Providence Park https://maps.app.goo.gl/4jMPG6NiJPx7KUur8

10. Van Dyck Park https://maps.app.goo.gl/15YSjgM62LTnpJ1K7

11. Towers Park https://maps.app.goo.gl/DvRPG1UhmXjkBH8A9

12. Gateway Regional Park https://maps.app.goo.gl/VvkCwfQvMiFgb79V9