Thursday, October 14, 2010

Green Geekery: The Mayor of East Falls Church Park

The Green Miles recently got a Blackberry & started using FourSquare. It allows you to "check in" to a location, see what other users are there, and see where your friends are. You become "mayor" when you check in at a location more than any other user.

FourSquare has actually gotten me to go to parks more often. It creates a little incentive to do something positive by telling your friends LOOK AT ME I'M SO GREEN & HEALTHY & INSUFFERABLE. Joking aside, if something makes me even 5% more likely to get off the couch & get some exercise, it's valuable.

This week I became mayor of East Falls Church Park in Arlington along the W&OD Trail. It's just a basketball court & a patch of grass barely big enough for a game of catch:


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Mini tangent: Tiny urban parks like this one deliver huge value. There's no other public place to play basketball within a mile of here. A park like this will deliver a lot more bang for the buck than parks located far from populated areas.

From now on, if I'm ever shooting baskets with anyone there, I will insist on being referred to as Mr. Mayor. And refer to myself that way in the third person. The mayor is open! Pass it to the mayor! The mayor for three! That sort of thing.

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