United States Department of the Interior
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION
1100 OHIO DRIVE, S.W.
WASHINGTON D.C. 20242

NOV 13 1981 

Mr. Mitch Snyder
Community for Creative Non-Violence
1345 Euclid Street, N.W.
Washington DC 20009

Dear Mr. Snyder:

We appreciated the opportunity to meet with you on November 2, 1981, to discuss the proposal outlined in the attachment to your permit application No. 81-891, dated September 29, 1981.  The proposal you presented at the meeting did not significantly differ from the written explanation of your plans and therefore, we must reiterate our denial of your application, dated September 29, 1981.

We understand that you wish to provide some meals as well as shelter in the form of tents and sleeping bags for the homeless in an encampment in Lafayette Park during the winter months.

As we explained at the meeting, Park Service regulations, while allowing some form of symbolic camping, do not permit camping primarily for living accommodations in undesignated areas such as Lafayette Park.  Your proposal as presented would utilize tents and other equipment primarily for living accommodations and is therefore not permissible under the regulations.  Our suggestion that you erect a number of tents for symbolic purposes while providing shelter for people in designated Park Service camping areas was not acceptable to you.

As we indicated at the meeting, we are legally bound to apply the same regulations to each and every group applying for a demonstration permit.  We regret that a cooperative resolution of the problems presented by your proposal could not be achieved.

Sincerely,

/S/ Jack Fish
Regional Director, National Capital Region