The District is spending nearly $3 million to renovate a crime-plagued park at 14th and Girard Streets in Northwest, including the addition of restrooms and a locked fence, city officials say.
Council member Jim Graham, Ward 1 Democrat, said the improvements follow a series of public meetings in which officials received “as good consensus as you’ll find” regarding the changes.
Police, residents and community groups have tried for years to curb violent crime at the Columbia Heights park - highlighted last year when two people were slain within yards of the corner.
Terry Cutchins, 13, of Northwest, was killed the night of June 2, 2007, from shots fired from a dark-colored sport utility vehicle, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.
Less than two months later, Tayon Glover, the brother of actor Ralph Anwan Glover, was fatally shot by two gunmen. Police said his death started a wave of retaliatory violence in the neighborhood.
Police put a surveillance camera nearby and patrol the area on horseback. And this summer community activists started a series of small gardens to bring tranquility to the neighborhood.
Over the past year, 23 violent crimes have occurred in the immediate vicinity of the park, according to city police statistics.
However, crime in police District 3 is down over the past year and no homicides have occurred on the corner. The number of homicides in the District in the last year was 17, compared with 22 over the same period in 2007.
Mr. Graham said the renovations also will include a rubber-surfaced basketball court, a fountain and a plaza with chairs, more trees, chess tables and an art wall. He said the restrooms will be regularly cleaned by the Department of Parks and Recreation and the Green Team, a group of “D.C.-funded employees who keep the neighborhood clean.”
The improvement work is scheduled to begin in December and be completed by next summer.
“This is just one of the many renovations going on in the area,” Mr. Graham said.
Though the city wants the park to look inviting during the day, officials decided to include a fence to close it at night. District law states parks must be closed after dark.
Improvements to the largely middle-class and Hispanic neighborhood began in1999 with the addition of theColumbia Heights metro station. A Giant grocery store opened in 2005.In March, the neighborhood got another major boost with the opening of DC USA - a 540,000-square-foot mall featuring a Marshall’s, Target, Best Buy and other retailers.
There are now plans to add an organic food market, other shopping areas and restore other parts of the neighborhood’s 14th Street corridor.
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