Bruce Monroe Park Still to Go Despite Locals’ Renewed Concerns

D.C. officials have no plans to change a Park View redevelopment project that would bulldoze a temporary park in the face of locals’ renewed frustration yesterday over the green space’s future.

Bruce Monroe Community Park’s land at 3000 Georgia Ave. NW is set to hold a mixed-use and mixed-income development intended to include residents of the Park Morton public housing complex, Angie Rodgers, director of the District’s New Communities Initiative, told dozens of locals at a community meeting last night. Park Morton is slated to close in the coming years.

During the meeting, several neighbors of the park expressed concerns about losing the space’s community garden, playground and areas to play sports — worries that prompted a petition to “save Bruce Monroe Community Park” earlier this fall. Rodgers said the redevelopment plans retain those features, but in a “different configuration.” A new park also would go up on the Park Morton site on the 600 block of Morton Street NW, she added.

“We made a determination that the Bruce Monroe site was our best opportunity to achieve this development without displacing Park Morton residents from the neighborhood and on the fastest timeline,” Rodgers said.

Many locals suggested that D.C. officials should consider vacant properties on George Avenue NW and other sites for the redevelopment project, instead of the park. In the locals’ Bruce Monroe petition, they said the old Hebrew Home near Park Morton could be an option.

“We love the park,” said Anne Laffoon, a federal auditor who lives near 11th and Girard streets NW. “We love the green space.”

Photo via Facebook/Save Bruce Monroe Park