Under-utilized community spaces

My baby at the bouncy house! From Elevation DC Media. 

This whole Gateway Pavilion episode today got me thinking:  Why is this community space nearly always empty? What can we do to take advantage of and actually use the new community spaces we have?

My initial thought is to add some family friendly features. A playground would be a really good start. The lawn is fun and a nice space to run around, but if you forgot to bring a ball or toy, there's only so long a child (my child, heh) will stay entertained.

Hold more events. You don't need bouncy houses. You could have three legged races, tug-of-war or potato sack races. Or some sort of relay race. You don't need a lot of money. The winter play room is a good example of this. In addition to the ice slide, there were games inside of one of the rooms.

Also, take advantage of interested people to make these events really solid well-attended events. What is being done with the names of people being collected at some of these events? During the ice slide, nearly everyone gave their info to hear about future events. I was assuming I would be contacted with new events. But it doesn't appear to be the case.

Also, give people somewhere to look for info if you're not actively advertising, and don't forget to update your website! The last time I looked the Gateway DC website did not have most/any events on it. There's nowhere to find centralized information about what is going on at the Pavilion. I stand corrected after looking around some more I found a Facebook page and Twitter account that announces events. I couldn't find the old website, maybe it's defunct? Or my Google skills are weak.

I'm sure there's hundreds of other things that could be done as well. But I'm stepping off my soapbox now.