Department of Parks and Recreation of District of Columbia — Local services in Washington

Arrived at DPR's Palisades Recreation Ctr. for the 03/10/23 beginning pickle ball lessons, and was told no lessons will be held as there's a summer camp being held, informed rep. no prior contact of such, and received an email confirmation day prior, that same would be held. Waited outside ctr for about 5 minutes for rep. to return with assured cancelled info - she returned and stated: no lessons today. I'd had the same type experience for beginning swimming lessons at Turkey Thicket, in about August 2022: showed up at 9:30 AM, as written and an email confirmation, and was told no the lessons began at 9:00 AM and that would be the begin time for future lessons. Also: same as the pickle ball lessons, and the swimming lessons: A follow up call from Palasaides after I'd departed and quite a distance, then told the lessons will be today, after all; note I was told for the swimming lessons: the correct time will be 9:30 AM after I'd departed as well. "Yo Yo" service re. cancel class, change, the time, then reverse statements and emails. I chose Montgomery County MD for the beginning swimming lessons as I dont trust DPR. and they've failed again for the pickleball lessons, thereby Montgomery County MD, even paying the non resident fee is worth it, for at least a reasonable level of customer service. I'd requested a refund from DCPR for the swimming lessons and never got one, and was told to do so again, for the pickle ball lessons, which I wont, as DPR is a dysfunctional entity: Palaisaides, and Turkey Thicket rec centers experiences show the...

"Our vision is to be America's gold standard for parks and recreation agencies," seems like a joke when you see just how incompetently this agency is managed. I appreciate the fact that as a DC resident I am able to go to any of the local pools to swim, but half of the time my local pool doesn't open, opens late, and or doesn't post closure notices (often times when a closure notice is posted, it will have the wrong date, or they will add more dates without correcting). Need to call them for more info? Good luck waiting on hold for hours on end. Policies regarding identification? Of course they aren't consistent from location to location, and you WILL be sternly chided for not knowing their specific locations' policy. If this is America's gold standard, then the bar was most likely never picked up off of the ground to begin with....

DPR has great indoor and outdoor pools along with many nice playgrounds! We signed up our daughter for her first summer camp ever through DPR and it came with several field trips and fun pool outings. Prior to sending our child to camp, we had never been to the SE. It was wonderful to get to go to new neighborhoods like Anacostia and the staff/team at Fort Stanton recreation center were very good. I’m so thankful that summer camps give a greater opportunity for racial diversity across wards; we’re so grateful for DPR, especially all those involved in working hands-on in keeping facilities & parks clean and/or all those working directly with...