Passport Arlington program encourages visits to municipal facilities, parks

by PegNews wire

I'm not sure exactly what to make of this City of Arlington-sponsored program designed to get people up out of their easy chairs (or off the internet) and out onto city streets, into recreation centers and amongst the stacks of branch libraries.

Dubbed "Passport Arlington," the program requires that participants purchase a $10 booklet from their nearest rec center, library or the Parks Administration Building (717 W. Main St.), after which they can begin visiting city facilities and parks to collect stamps (or, in the case of trails, verification code letters) and thus populate the pages of their booklet.

Once 25 or 50 stamps have been collected, the passport can be brought to Parks Administration for an unspecified "special gift." (Not sure what they mean by "25 OR 50" - presumably one gets a "special gift" at the 25 milestone and another at the 50 one.)

Says Gary Packan, the city’s assistant director of Parks and Recreation Department: “With Passport Arlington, we want to see more residents finding fun, adventure, value and convenience in their own neighborhoods. Passport Arlington rewards participants for getting out and being active."

My only gripe is that the city is not making the booklet available as a printable .pdf, thereby saving on gas/transit time prior to getting this whole "discover Arlington" exercise ball rolling. But I suppose that sort of defeats the purpose of getting people out and about on the city streets.

(Next, I'll be wishing for a virtual online Arlington where I can collect virtual badges. Call me Mr. Slug.)

posted by JM

• Staff
• Verified User
• Anonymous