City Officials to Rethink Plan for NW Park

As part of the plan, the city would create a new park, recreation center and swimming pool two blocks south, at First and L streets NW. The city also would redesign or upgrade nearby parks.

But longtime area residents expressed deep attachment to the New York Avenue playground and urged the city to find another place to put the townhouses.

At one point in the meeting, about three dozen elementary and middle school children in football uniforms marched into the courtyard of the educational center where the meeting was held and were met with applause. "We want the rec," they chanted, a reference to the park where they practice for the Boys and Girls Club league.

"That's their home, and you want to take it away?" Mike Roberts, one of their coaches, asked the city officials.

D.C. Council member Vincent B. Orange Sr. (D-Ward 5) said he wanted to provide housing for the poor but not at the expense of the park.

"I support the . . . playground," he said, adding that city officials need "to go back to the drawing board."

Council members Adrian M. Fenty (D-Ward 4) and Phil Mendelson (D-At Large) and mayoral hopeful Scott Bolden echoed the sentiments.

In the end, resident Leon Braddell summed up the prevailing mood: "The people do not want it, simple as that."

Michael Downie, a D.C. planner, said he would convey the sentiment to City Administrator Robert C. Bobb.

"I think the people rightly have a concern," Downie said.