Could lead to increased teenage sexual activity, worried residents say. (Photo by Mr. T in DC)

People in the South Manor neighborhood in Northeast D.C. say they have no problem with the District’s plan to build a memorial commemorating the nine lives lost in the June 2009 Metrorail accident near the Fort Totten station, but some fear that the choice of location for the memorial would lead to an increase in sightings of young people getting it on out in the open.

The Examiner reports that the South Manor Neighborhood Association, which represents residents near New Hampshire and South Dakota avenues, sent letters to Mayor Vince Gray and the D.C. Council expressing neighbors’ opposition to the creation of a memorial park in their vicinity. It’s not that people in South Manor are unfeeling toward the victims’ families, they just don’t want all the noise, clutter and other inconveniences of the construction of a new park:

“We have no animosity toward the families. They’ve suffered. We understand that,” said Alison Brooks, the neighborhood association’s secretary. “But these are places we call home, in my case for 10 years, for some people, 20, 30, 40 years.”

And then there are the neighborhood kids having all that outdoor sex. Neighbors tell the Examiner that the area is frequently used as a hookup spot for high-school kids, and that installing a park with plenty of benches would only encourage more frequent youthful indiscretions.

The patch of land that the city is eyeing for the memorial is currently used by South Manor residents for picnics and block parties. Residents say that the memorial, which is expected to cost over $1 million and open in mid-2013, would rob them of that recreation spot. Moreover, providing those horny teenagers with benches would tarnish the memory of those who died in the Metro crash.

“How would they feel if they have benches dedicated to their families and then they have kids lying across them having sex?” Brooks, the neighborhood association’s secretary asked the Examiner.