Vendors could eventually work here. Photo by Mr. T in DC

A few days ago we wrote about some of the creative ways D.C. is trying to raise money, including selling ads and corporate sponsorships in parks, pools and recreation centers. Today the Examiner digs up another money-making venture that’s being floated for local parks: concessions.

A bill proposed by Mayor Vince Gray and working its way through the D.C. Council would allow the D.C. Department of Public Works to sell concessions or authorize third parties to do so in D.C. parks, recreation centers, dog parks, and pools:

The existing legislation, which will face its first hearing before city lawmakers next month, would permit far more than traditional food stands hawking bottles of water or hot dogs. Instead, the proposal’s broad language would give the OK for any “revenue generating activity, event, class, program, operation or service, for the benefit, enjoyment, education, amusement or convenience of the public” on DPR-owned land.

“What this will do, frankly, is leverage the outside resources to meet the demand that we know is there,” DPR Director Jesus Aguirre told The Washington Examiner. “I think there’s a significant number of providers who can support what we do, and I think in the end the taxpayers get a broader array of activities.”

That could mean a concession stand at your local pool selling ice-cream sandwiches, a yoga studio offering classes at a local park or a dog-sitter willing to watch your canine at the local dog park as you go off and have a drink with friends.

Of course, not just anything will go. “It can only be about healthy living,” the Examiner quoted DPR Director Jesus Aguirre as saying. “If somebody wants to sell lobster rolls on park property, that doesn’t make sense to me, but if we have a farmers market that comes in and wants to have a mobile vending cart, that might be appropriate.”

Hear that, Red Hook Lobster Pound? Your kind isn’t welcome.