Photo by Sarah Anne Hughes.
One day after the city released a plan to close D.C. General, a playground outside the city’s largest family homeless shelter officially opened.
B.B. Otero, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services, attended the ribbon cutting on behalf of Mayor Vincent Gray.
“We know that D.C. General is not an optimum place for families,” Otero said. “But while families are here, we want to make sure that there’s a safe place for the children to use.”
Councilmember Mary Cheh, who introduced a bill in May that would have required the city to build the playground, repeated Otero’s sentiment.
“We know that D.C. General is temporary, and we do want it to be closed,” the Ward 3 Councilmember said. “While it does last, we want to provide a place for children to play.”
The playground was championed by the Homeless Children’s Playtime Project, which runs programs for the children who live at the shelter. Executive Director Jamila Larson said building the playground was “truly a team effort” between her organization, the city and Pepco, which initially offered to fund the entire project. The city, instead, ended up paying $450,000 for the playground’s construction.
“I want to thank [the children] for inspiring grownups to do the right thing,” Larson said. “This is your playground.”
With a donation from Pepco, the Playtime Project has employed a full-time playground manager, who will be out Tuesday through Saturday, year-round, collecting liability forms and supervising play.
Deborah Carroll, the interim director of the Department of Human Services, said Pepco “led the way” to make sure the playground had the resources it needs in the future. Kevin Fitzgerald, Pepco’s executive vice president, credited Larson: “Without her energy and leadership, the would not have happened.”
One homeless mother at today’s ceremony agreed: “I’m just grateful to Playtime Project for building this playground here and giving children an opportunity to be outside of the building, because not a lot of kids have that opportunity here.”
While collaboration was celebrated at today’s ceremony, the path to getting the playground built was not an easy one. A representative from the Department of General Services announced at a Council hearing in July that the playground would be built, two months after Cheh introduced her bill to mandate its construction. The Councilmember declined today to comment on the process of getting the playground built.
“Everyone will own the decision to build it,” Councilmember Tommy Wells said in July. “But I’ve seen no one owning the decision not to build it.”
