Events DC Seeks Local Support to Build New Playground Near Eliot-Hine

Northeast Capitol Hill children might get a new playground if locals back a plan to transform an empty lot near Eliot-Hine Middle School.

Officials with Events DC, which manages the land at 20th and C streets NE, urged locals at a community meeting last night to support a playground on the property. Without neighborhood support, the D.C. events authority won’t go ahead with the project, the officials said.

“Events DC wants to build the playground for the community,” said Andrew Harrington, Events DC’s director of venue operations. “The community’s involvement is critical.”

Harrington and his colleagues at the meeting held by ANC 6A’s transportation and public space committee didn’t discuss possible features for the park. But Harrington said it would cost about $100,000, with support from KaBOOM!, a nonprofit organization that helps construct playgrounds.

With or without the new park, Events DC plans to continue maintaining the nearby Oklahoma Avenue NE playground, which sits on land the organization manages. But the events authority won’t make significant investments in the playground and may demolish it to make way for future development.

“The current location of the current playground is right in that area where we can rebuild,” Harrington said. “Therefore, it’s sort of a high priority area for whatever is going to be there down the road.”

Locals at the meeting were generally supportive of the playground. But some of them expressed concern about car traffic near the park.

It wasn’t immediately clear when, or if, ANC 6A might endorse Events DC’s proposal.

Photo via Google Maps