Upgrade Is a Hit With Young Tenants

A New Playground Lifts Spirits at Harvey Hall in Arlington

Harvey Hall's old playground was such a hazard that children were not allowed to play there.

"It was small and dirty," said Napatsorn Butthep, 11.

But now the six-story brick apartment building just north of Columbia Pike and east of Carlin Springs Road in Arlington has a new playground, thanks to local contributions of money, labor and expertise.

The 116 apartments, all but 16 of which are designated as affordable rental units for low- and moderate-income families, are owned by AHC, a nonprofit affordable-housing organization based in Arlington. AHC bought the property in 1994. It renovated much of it in 2005 and 2006 -- unit interiors, roof, common areas. It added a community room but didn't work on the playground.

"We had to close the playground because there were some broken parts and it wasn't safe for the children to play there. The equipment was 15 years old," said Teresa Washington, AHC Management property manager.

Washington said AHC's grants manager, Hannah Moore, found Kaboom, a nonprofit based in the District that builds playgrounds in underprivileged communities, online when she was searching for a way to replace the playground. Harvey Hall met Kaboom's two main requirements -- that the playground be visible from the street and available to all children in the community. "We were jumping up and down," Washington said.

Kaboom brought in the materials, made possible with a major contribution from Corporate Executive Board, an Arlington consulting company which also supplied nearly 200 volunteers to assemble the playground in a morning. The playground has a large slide, swings, jungle gym and a sandbox on a bed of wood chips.

This was the 1,434th playground built by Kaboom since it was founded in 1996, according to project director Justin Fitzgerald. But this one was distinctive. "This is such a multicultural community," Fitzgerald said. "It's certainly one of the most multicultural [we've worked in] and we wanted to do something that reflected that."

Volunteers helped paint flags of the countries represented in the community and affix them to the chain-link fence surrounding the playground.

The flags -- of Spain, Morocco, Mexico, El Salvador, Bolivia, Argentina, Peru, Thailand, Sierra Leone, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Egypt, Yemen, India, China and Vietnam -- give the fence a colorful, almost mural-like appearance. "We really do have a huge diversity of population in our program," said Joy Rambert, resident services manager. "We're like the United Nations."

The fence is an appreciated addition for the playground, which was once a little too exposed to the street. "It's a lot better, more private," said Patsharee Butthep, Napatsorn's mother.

But neighbors are still welcome. Maria Reyes, who lives in nearby Windsor Towers, is drawn to Harvey Hall by its children's programs and the playground. On a recent weeknight, her three children played soccer and hit the swings. The playground "is pretty, and it's very convenient for us," she said.