Photo by María Helena Carey
I spent the better part of my elementary school years with skinned knees. Swings and monkey bars on top of blacktop will do that. Ours, a typical 1970’s school playground, was not the safest, but my classmates and I did learn to hang on for dear life.
Playgrounds today are much more knee-friendly and really quite thoughtful and developmentally savvy in their design and materials. The kids at Watkins Elementary and children in the neighborhood will soon have a playground of their dreams. Well, if things go right tomorrow night, a playground of their parents’ dreams.
The Department of Parks and Recreation and the DC Public Schools are renovating the playground as part of the Watkins field renovation project, and the playground renovation will start as soon as work on the field is finished. Two public meetings will give parents and community members the opportunity to brainstorm and give input on the project.
The first playground design meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, February 2 at 6 pm at the Watkins Library. There will be brainstorming around potential design options, including layout of the site and types of equipment and amenities. Feedback will go back to DPR and OPEFM, which will develop two potential designs based on input and the available budget and site constraints. A date and time for the second meeting will be announced soon. The purpose of the second meeting will be to review and give input to the two potential designs. The feedback from this meeting will be used to develop a final design.
If you have questions or would like to give input but can’t attend the meetings, contact Caryn Ernst at caryn(dot)ernst(at)gmail(dot)com.
The title of this article refers to this playground at Watkins being in Hill East.
Watkins is at 12thand D, SE which is within the boundaries of the Capitol Hill Historic District.
see map here: http://www.chrs.org/documents/CHHD_map.pdf
I think it’s important that our wonderful neighborhood blog put in the extra effort to be on top these things. It’s bad enough when the MSM gets it wrong!
I was going to comment on this the last time it happened – when you did the nice piece on the B Spot on the 1100 block of Penn and made reference to it being in Hill East. I decided not to comment because I didn’t want to be seen as being snarky and I don’t mean to be. But now that it’s happened again, i just feel that I needed to say something because I enjoy reading the Hill is Home and I think it’s important to be as accurate as possible – especially when geography is concerned.
And side note – next to the author’s name, it says “Capitol Hill South.” which is definitely not a term I would use to describe this area.
Keep up the great work, otherwise!
@Jackson F
Good point — I think the distinction has little value as well. The boundaries for Watkins elementary itself blur this distintion.
As a somewhat unrelated sidenote, as part of the demolition going on at Reservation 13/DC General/Hill East/Other Name Inserted Here, a practically brand-new playground set was deconstructed and removed. I don’t know if it ended up in the trash or reused elsewhere, but Hill East could have used that equipment somewhere for the neighborhood!
Agreed! Watkins is in Capitol Hill not “Hill East.”
Thanks, Kate! Good stuff!
Wait, wait, wait. On what authority was it declared that “Hill East” was everything not in the historic district?
The HD runs down 13th until S. Carolina where it stretches to 14th Street. Does this mean that 13th and E is in Hill East but if you live FURTHER east on 14th and D you’re not in Hill East anymore? What if the HD was expanded down to the Car Barn? Does Hill East then lose another block?
I don’t agree that Hill East is essentially whatever is not in the historic district. I would argue that Hill East is generally undefined, but you’re always right if you say that whatever it is, it’s east of Eastern Market.
And if nothing else, it’s a frame of mind.
Also of note, the NewHillEast listserv moderators recently reiterated their requirement that you live in HillEast to be a member. They defined HillEast as the following:
“Here are the Newhilleast boundaries: north of the freeway; south of H street (though will include parts of Trinidad, if requested); east of the Capitol; and west of the River.”
At first I thought Hill East was east of the historic district, but after living here a few years, I’ve come to understand Hill East to be east of Eastern Market.
I don’t know, it seems like Hill East was a term created just to deal with Res. 13, and has since grown beyond that, much to the consternation of those living adjacent to Res. 13.
The group that keeps seniors in their Capitol Hill homes says that Capitol Hill goes all the way east to the river. Neighborhoods can be so amorphous.
Jon,
That question came up at the Res 13 meeting, and the issue is that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to use the playground equipment again because of safety and insurance questions.
Tim (Hill East and Capitol Hill resident)
Does it really matter??? Its not like the author accidentally declared that Watkins is in Dupont Circle. Capitol Hill and Hill East have blurry boundaries and what the boundaries are is 100% irrelevant in this context.
On to something that actually is related to this article – i think its wonderful that the kids at Watkins will soon have a brand new playground to use.
wow, someone clamoring that an outlier beyond 8th street be considered “Capitol Hill.” I’m flabberghasted. How can folks look down their nose and gasp when I say I live just past Frager’s now that they are trying to claim a school just a stone’s throw from my home as part of their enclave? Nobody let the realtors know or they will stretch it and consider 3100 Penn Ave SE Capitol Hill. You know, right after they tell those potential buyers that Potomac Garden will be going away real soon. Plans have been in the works for years, yada yada…
Such elitism!
I’m at 16th and H SE … I guess I’m just the red headed step child of true Capitol Hill.
Its just sad that there seems to be greater concern over what to call or not call a part of our neighborhood instead of celebrating a new and safe playground for the kids that live here.
Let’s hope the toddlers using this playground don’t
enforce a residency requirement!
Hear, hear SP & Jay!
As a resident (on 14th Street) of Hill East for more than 13 years, I’ve never thought about it as specifically as the various boundaries mentioned here, but as a general area. I guess it’s a little odd to me that a school a block from me isn’t in my “neighborhood,” nor is it for Karen, the mom organizing these meetings. But we’re lucky to call Watkins our neighborhood school. Truth be told, since the park in question is within site of the fabulously historic “Shotgun House,” I should have been more specific choosing my headline. The Capitol Hill South tag doesn’t relate to the metro stop at all, but how we’ve divided up the neighborhood for the sake of categorizing posts. Such categorization is certainly an art, not a science.
So, slides or swings?
I’m a fan of Monkey Bars!
Kate, Caryn, or whomever,
You might consider contacting KABOOM! about your new playground. They are on the interweb, or I have a contact there if you’re interested.
The shotgun house is within sight of Watkins, but that kind of misses the point. If you’re discussing on this blog, I’d assume the subject relates to Capitol Hill, whether that’s H St NE (and beyond) or to M St. to the south. No one thinks of leaving their neighborhood to visit the 2 major grocery stores on the Hll, send their kids to in boundary school, let their dog run legally off leash or visit their neighborhood hardware store anymore than you would consider a trip to Eastern Market as an outer-neighborhood excursion. It’s all the Hill
Exactly my point: It’s all the HILL.
So why specify that this is in HILL EAST?