Friends of southwest playgrounds

At Friends of Southwest Playgrounds, we want safe, accessible by walking, and well-maintained playgrounds in Southwest for our children.

SOUTHWEST RESHAPED BY DEVELOPMENT

Development is overtaking the Southwest Washington Waterfront community, bringing a baseball stadium to Nationals fans, reopening 4th Street to retail and residential construction; transforming Arena Stage into a state-of-the art playhouse. 

Tourists and sports spectators, Members of Congress and city officials will make the Southwest neighborhood a favorite cultural stop of the well-to-do, powerful and famous.

PLAYGROUNDS NOT PART OF SOUTHWEST DEVELOPMENT 

While residents of Southwest will benefit in some measure from the changes underway, the community is not deriving all the benefit that it could.  Our children have witnessed wrecking balls smash the concrete Waterside Mall, their neighborhood library standing its ground nearby. They've heard the stadium metal screech into place, watched its sprawling frame sag the Anacostia River's banks.

But, will the forces remaking Southwest build up our residential spaces and give our children a place to play?Will they please wrap a state-of the art playground around the forlorn duck pond at 6th and I Street? Build out the pocket park at 4th and G? Will government incentives and developer financing partner up to transform our Southwest gray into playground greenspace? 

When the flock of steel cranes darkening our Southwest sky gives way to the crush of traffic on game days... where will our neighborhood children be playing?

WHERE OUR CHILDREN NOW PLAY:

Currently, if they want to play in Southwest, our children can select from these poor play outdoor options:  the "duck pond" at 6th and I Streets, S.W.; the pocket park at 4th and G Streets, S.W.;  (Please send photos of and your story about your children's Southwest play spaces! )

WHAT WE WANT: 

We want jungle gyms to build strong limbs, slides that touch the sky, hopscotch squares, space for 'tag', and hammocks for kids to swing. 

Playgrounds we love! We wish to build a playground resembling our favorite playspaces around the city, on which many of us rely in the absence of a Southwest playground: 

MODEL PLAYGROUNDS: We'd welcome any one of the beautiful parks enjoyed by children elsewhere in the city: Garfield Park, at South Carolina and S.E.; 'Big Slide Playground', on New Mexico Avenue, N.W..

(Write and tell us YOUR FAVORITE DC PLAYGROUNDS )

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO BRING PLAYGROUNDS TO SOUTHWEST: 

Write developers building in Southwest:

Write members of the press:

Write members of the City Council, including Tommy Wells (Councilmember for Ward 6).

Write other city decisionmakers: