by Alexandra Chalupa
President, Friends of Forest Hills Playground
The Forest Hills playground closes a week from today to undergo a major renovation. And tomorrow evening, the city agencies involved in the project will host a final public meeting before construction begins.
Wednesday, June 4th, from 6:30-7:30 p.m., representatives from DC’s Department of Parks and Recreation and Department of General Services will discuss the playground’s final design, work schedule and impacts. The meeting will begin at the park’s picnic pavilion between Brandywine and Chesapeake Streets, next to the tennis courts. In the event of rain, the meeting will be held instead on Monday, June 9th, from 6:30-7:30 p.m.
Other than the pre-construction meeting, here are a few important dates you need to be aware of:
Meanwhile, the toys at the Forest Hills playground need new homes, or they will be thrown away.
Our playground has a long history of families donating lightly used toys – playhouses, kitchens, bikes, trikes, cars, basketball hoops, wagons, etc. – which all of the children have enjoyed. However, all of these toys are scheduled to be thrown out by the contractor when construction begins on June 10th.
While many of the toys are in poor shape and therefore should be trashed, some are still in good condition and safe for your little ones to enjoy. Please feel free to swing by the playground and take any of the good toys home with you.
The permanent structures are also scheduled to be discarded, as it is against DPR’s policy to reuse any of these items, so they will not be part of the new playground.
However, the red playhouse and the fire truck may have found a new home only a few blocks away. Murch school’s principal wants to “adopt” these structures.
And while its unfortunate the playground will be closed for the entire summer, we’re very excited about the new redesign and hope you will be too! Friends of Forest Hills Playground continues to work closely with the design team, DPR, DGS and ANC Commissioner Sally Gresham as part of the Forest Hills Playground Renovation Task Force, so we’ll keep you updated about any further developments.