Since construction of the new King-Greenleaf Recreation Center commenced in January, workers at the Delaware Avenue SW site have faced down one neighborhood menace after another. At night, windows were being broken and survey markers pulled up, and one April afternoon, nearby gunshots sent the plumbers home early. An off-duty police officer was hired last month to patrol the site after hours, but the hired gun can’t do much about the most persistent nuisance: a pack of tough-talking 10-year-olds. Forrester Construction’s Don Sansing, the site superintendent, says he frequently has to chase the kids back under the fence during work hours. It’s a potentially hazardous job; an older cousin of one of the little rascals once threatened mortal vengeance. “We call them the Cartoon Gang because they got to go home to watch cartoons. Then they come back afterwards to bug us,” says Sansing. —David Morton