One of the problems with Yelp appears to be the inability to give negative votes for an existing review. Hence, we have Dee G.'s rant against Lyon Village Park, and rather than noting that his or her review is crazy through a vote, my only recourse is to post a rebuttal.
Let me start by describing the park. Most of the park is a standard, albeit somewhat big, playground with swings and a large sandbox. There's also a large picnic shelter, a couple of tennis courts and a basketball court. But the primary draw, for most people with kids, is the water part of the park. It's about 20' by 20' with about five fountains that periodically spray water up in the air and a few buckets and showers that drop water down to the ground once they fill. You have to push a button every few minutes to get the water flowing. The kids love it.
I agree with Dee on the following points. First, the lack of bathrooms could be a problem. But it seems unfair to hold this park up to a standard that isn't met for most parks - have you ever tried to find a bathroom on the National Mall? Second, it could get a bit crowded especially because the water part isn't that big. But the crowd that really loves this part of the park is between 3 and 5 years of age and doesn't have a terribly long attention span. Consequently, I've never encountered anything that would be a "large" crowd in my visits to the park.
Now, let's consider Dee's snippy comments about the park. (His or her comments are amazingly redundant, so I'll boil them down to a few common themes.)
(1) It's a waste of water. Well, it's not as if we live in a desert. And there are many more instances of "wasted water" (again, we don't live in a desert) than one that provides entertainment for children. For example, if we're concerned about wasted water, then the first thing I'd shut down would be the FDR Memorial. More on point for this park, the fountains require one to push a button every five minutes, so it's not as if it's pumping water regardless of whether or not it's raining or how many people are around.
(2) It's dirty with kids in poopy diapers sitting in the water. Dee must have had a bad experience at this park with dirty diapers. As I noted earlier, in my experience, most of the kids who enjoy this park are 3-5 years old, so they're out of diapers. In fact, I've never seen a kid below the age of one who enjoys this park (most kids of that age don't like having water dumped on their head.) Could a "diaper event" happen in such a setting? I suppose, but that's what happens at kids' parks. Sand and other stuff in the water? I've never seen any, but I suppose it could happen because that's what it's like when you go to a kids' park, especially one that happens to include a sandbox.
(3) It's too crowded. As noted earlier, I suppose that this could happen too. But my experience is that most kids don't have a long attention span for the park, and the parents are fairly responsible regarding the behavior of their kids. And if you feel that someone is behaving inappropriately (which also applies to diaper issues), bring it up to the parents.
Personally, I like this park a lot. And my kids (2.5 years and 10 months old) love it. It's a fun place to go with kids when it's hot, especially given the variety of entertainment that's available. Actually, what makes me irritated is that I have to drive to NoVa to find parks like this, but that's what I get for living in the District. Either Dee had a really bad experience and needed to vent, or s/he's someone who doesn't understand, or simply doesn't like, kids and the parks that cater to them. read more