July 2017 - Parks & Recreation - 31

Richard Lukas, president of the nonproﬁt
Friends of the 13th Street Community Park
and Garden group that was instrumental in
getting the neighborhood park completed.

small group agreed to spearhead the
community engagement.
We quickly incorporated our ad
hoc citizen assembly into an official
nonprofit " friends of group, " the 13th
Street Community Park and Garden.
Because I was an urban planning
professional, albeit a very green one
with no experience tackling such a
project, I was pressed into service as
the organization's president. Working in partnership with the housing
agency, we held outreach meetings
and a community charrette with the
public-housing residents and the larger neighborhood. Luckily,
we had the pro-bono talents of an architectural designer and a
landscape architect to guide us through park options.
From the community, we quickly learned that the senior citizens, who comprised the largest demographic of the neighboring housing complex, had no interest in playsets or active recreation areas for the site. Instead, they wished for a more peaceful
place to relax and reflect. And, interestingly, many of the older
residents, some who grew up with agricultural backgrounds,
called for a community gardening space.
After several months, with an agreed-upon conceptual design, we testified before the housing board, and the project
was allocated $250,000. Ground was ceremoniously broken
and all seemed right with the world. Except, as many of us
learned, very few construction projects ever go as planned.
Design challenges and their costs quickly outpaced our budget, and work on the park stalled. The housing residents and
neighbors grew restless.
Keep the Long View
For more than two years, each time I stepped out my front
door I had to dodge complaints about the project and what,
to many, was beginning to look like false promises. Behind
the scenes, however, our nonprofit was walking a delicate
tightrope of politicking and advocacy. The housing
director and FRXQFLOPHPEHU remained our champions
throughout, but bureaucracy and financial realities cast a
pall on what should have been a feel-good task. Eventually,
the housing agency, with the help of the board, successfully
applied for and was awarded a fed-eral grant to complete the
park, securing more than $650,000. After four years of
dedication by dozens of community mem-bers, the 13th and
C Street Community Park and Garden fi-nally became a
reality and, to this day, remains a beloved gem of the
community.

Be a Gracious Agitator
Two miles due south of our new park
is the Frederick Douglass Cedar Hill
house and historic site. It was here
that the abolitionist, civil rights advocate and statesman lived from 1877
until his death in 1895. A year before
his passing, a young man approached
Douglass at his home and asked how
he could make a difference in this
world. " Agitate, " Douglass replied.
" Agitate, agitate. " I can offer no better
advice to those hoping to create their
own parks and protect natural spaces
for future generations - except perhaps to do so with a smile
and a sense of humor!
Richard Lukas is Director of Federal Grants and Program Development at The
Trust for Public Land and President of the 13th Street Community Park &
Garden in Capitol Hill, D.C. (richard.lukas@tpl.org).

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Parks & Recreation

July 2017 - Parks & Recreation

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