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Several of the newer Anne Arundel County launches have locked gates with combination locks. You need to contact the AA County Dept of Recreation and Parks to get the combination. I assumed that once I had the combination, I could get in easily. However, on two occasions, I showed up at Homeport Farms and entered the combination that I had written down on my previous visit. It did not work. On Sat morning I had to use my cell phone to visit the Department's website and get a new combination. I found that inconvenient. Yesterday I wrote to the Department with these comments:
"I visit the Homeport Farm park several times a year to launch my kayak. The park has a locking gate with a combination lock. When I had used the park during the summer, I wrote down the combination and kept it in my car. When I visited again yesterday morning, I tried the previous combination and found it would not work. I was able to get the revised combination by getting onto the Recreation and Parks website via my cell phone. However, not all potential users will have that capability. This is not the first time I have had this experience.
I offer the following suggestions as ways to help users keep up with combination changes:
1) Keep an email distribution list of all persons who have previously requested a combination. When you make a change, send an email to those persons letting them know the new combination.
2) Follow a specific schedule for changing the combination. For example, change once per quarter, once per month, or on some other published schedule. That would allow users to get the most current combination before leaving home.
Thank you for considering this suggestion."
Today I received a reply from Dawn Thomas:
"Thank you for your interest in Homeport Farm Park and our gated parks program. This program allows us to protect these unstaffed parks from potential unwanted activities like dumping while also allowing convenient access for park users. These instructions are on our website and at the parks via signage. By requesting the combination it helps us gauge the level of activity at these sites. We want you to request the combination for each visit so we understand how much use there is. We change these combinations routinely, but don't announce when as that defeats our purpose to have you get the combination each time. Thank you for your understanding and we hope you continue to enjoy Homeport Farm Park and all it has to offer."
Although I understand some of the rationale for following the combination change policy, I don't like it. The take-away lesson is that it makes sense to visit the Department's website prior to each visit there in order to get the latest combination.
"I visit the Homeport Farm park several times a year to launch my kayak. The park has a locking gate with a combination lock. When I had used the park during the summer, I wrote down the combination and kept it in my car. When I visited again yesterday morning, I tried the previous combination and found it would not work. I was able to get the revised combination by getting onto the Recreation and Parks website via my cell phone. However, not all potential users will have that capability. This is not the first time I have had this experience.
I offer the following suggestions as ways to help users keep up with combination changes:
1) Keep an email distribution list of all persons who have previously requested a combination. When you make a change, send an email to those persons letting them know the new combination.
2) Follow a specific schedule for changing the combination. For example, change once per quarter, once per month, or on some other published schedule. That would allow users to get the most current combination before leaving home.
Thank you for considering this suggestion."
Today I received a reply from Dawn Thomas:
"Thank you for your interest in Homeport Farm Park and our gated parks program. This program allows us to protect these unstaffed parks from potential unwanted activities like dumping while also allowing convenient access for park users. These instructions are on our website and at the parks via signage. By requesting the combination it helps us gauge the level of activity at these sites. We want you to request the combination for each visit so we understand how much use there is. We change these combinations routinely, but don't announce when as that defeats our purpose to have you get the combination each time. Thank you for your understanding and we hope you continue to enjoy Homeport Farm Park and all it has to offer."
Although I understand some of the rationale for following the combination change policy, I don't like it. The take-away lesson is that it makes sense to visit the Department's website prior to each visit there in order to get the latest combination.
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