In Ward 8, Barry Strives to Reshape Legacy

Focus Is on Streets, Rec Centers in New Role

A black Mercury sedan stopped on a patch of freshly paved asphalt in Fort Stanton. Out popped D.C. Council member Marion Barry, wearing a snow-white track suit, gold wristwatch and a "Free D.C." cap. He immediately attracted a swarm of well-wishers and neighborhood children too young to remember him as mayor.

"Somebody get him a bottle of water," said Linda Greene, chief of staff for Barry (D-Ward 8). Greene's concern was warranted because her boss had been released from the hospital hours earlier after suffering from what he said was dehydration.

The former mayor rewarded the crowd with a little impromptu dance. It was mostly a foot shuffle with a slight knee bend, but the crowd whooped anyway.

The city-funded celebration last month marked the completion of a $1.3 million reconstruction of Elvans Road SE, which residents had requested for years -- including through several Barry administrations. Officials planned the project two years ago and obtained approval last August, three months before Barry was elected to the council.

Nonetheless, Barbara Gaffney, a 20-year Elvans Road resident, gave Barry the credit.

"It's like Marion Barry to always [make] the impossible possible," said Gaffney, 50.

Although Barry has missed a third of the D.C. Council meetings since taking office, community leaders -- perhaps optimistically -- said Barry is using Ward 8 to create a block-by-block legacy in what may be the last chapter of his public life. There, he has used his political skills to reinvent himself as a hyper-local politician tending to new sidewalks, alley sweeping and other provincial matters.

At the celebration, Barry told the audience not to focus on the past.

"I have to admit I didn't do as much as I should have back when I was mayor, but now we're getting it done," said Barry, who led the city from 1979 to 1991 and from 1995 to 1999. "It's not where you've been but where you're going."

At the John A. Wilson Building, the District's city hall, Barry has sometimes needed a crutch to navigate the halls where he charmed, confounded and ruled a decade ago.

Tall and frail, Barry looks older than his 69 years, and his frame no longer fills out his bespoke suits. His new colleagues said Barry has not been the force some had expected.

While Barry's knowledge of city government is encyclopedic, they said, he has been slow to pick up on political shifts in a city that is richer, more diverse and more demanding of competent city services and fiscal prudence.