2023 District of Columbia Code › Title 10 - Parks, Public Buildings, Grounds, and Space › Chapter 1 - General Provisions › § 10–137. Authority to make rules and regulations for care of public grounds — Generally

§ 10–137. Authority to make rules and regulations for care of public grounds — Generally.
The Director of the National Park Service and the said Mayor of the District of Columbia are authorized to make all needful rules and regulations for the government and proper care of all the public grounds placed by §§ 6-404, 10-104, 10-106, 10-123, 10-129 and 10-137, under their respective charge and control; and to annex to such rules and regulations such reasonable penalties as will secure their enforcement.
(July 1, 1898, 30 Stat. 571, ch. 543, § 6.)
Prior Codifications
1981 Ed., § 8-137.
1973 Ed., § 8-143.
Section References
This section is referenced in § 10-138 and § 10-148.
Transfer of Functions
The functions of the Director of the National Park Service relating to public buildings were transferred to the Federal Works Administrator by § 303 (b) of Reorganization Plan No. I, July 1, 1939, 4 F.R. 2729, 53 Stat. 1427. All functions of all officers of the Department of the Interior (including the Director of the National Park Service) and all functions of all agencies and employees of such Department were, with 2 exceptions, transferred to the Secretary of the Interior, with power vested in him to authorize their performance or the performance of any of his functions by any of such officers, agencies, and employees, by 1950 Reorganization Plan No. 3, §§ 1, 2, 15 F.R. 3174, 64 Stat. 1262. All functions of the Federal Works Agency and of all agencies thereof, together with all functions of the Federal Works Administrator, and all functions of the Commissioner of Public Buildings and the Public Buildings Administration, were transferred to the Administrator of General Services by § 103(a) of the Act of June 30, 1949, 63 Stat. 380, ch. 288. The Federal Works Agency, the Office of Federal Works Administrator, the Office of Commissioner of Public Buildings, and the Public Buildings Administration, were abolished by § 103(b) of said Act. All functions with respect to acquiring space in buildings by lease and all functions with respect to assigning and reassigning space in buildings for use by agencies (including both space acquired by lease and space in government-owned buildings), were, with certain exceptions, transferred from the respective agencies in which theretofore vested to the Administrator of General Services by §  1 of 1950 Reorganization Plan No. 18, 15 F.R. 3177, 64 Stat. 1270.
Change in Government
This section originated at a time when local government powers were delegated to a Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia (see Acts Relating to the Establishment of the District of Columbia and its Various Forms of Governmental Organization in Volume 1). Section 401 of Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1967 (see Reorganization Plans in Volume 1) transferred all of the functions of the Board of Commissioners under this section to a single Commissioner. The District of Columbia Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act, 87 Stat. 818, § 711 ( D.C. Code, § 1-207.11), abolished the District of Columbia Council and the Office of Commissioner of the District of Columbia. These branches of government were replaced by the Council of the District of Columbia and the Office of Mayor of the District of Columbia, respectively. Accordingly, and also pursuant to § 714(a) of such Act ( D.C. Code, § 1-207.14(a)), appropriate changes in terminology were made in this section.