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Right now, the Capitol Riverfront is not the kind of place you want to dog-walk after dark. Last time I visited, the only pedestrian traffic I encountered was security guards and a man visiting the local storage warehouse. M Street Southeast had a few people walking around. But they all seemed to be on their way out, heading down into the Navy Yard Metro station.
If all goes according to plan, that will change though. The Capitol Riverfront Business Improvement District has a plan for four parks to be built in the area. Tomorrow will see the groundbreaking for the first one: Diamond Teague Park, for which developer Florida Rock donated $800,000.
Apparently, construction began within the last month. (Really, the word “groundbreaking” should be retired in this city.) The park is named after a former member of the Earth Conservation Corp, a group of D.C. teens that clean the Anacostia River. He was murdered five years ago, when he was 19.
According to a staff-member at the Capitol Riverfront BID, the park is supposed to be completed by the second quarter of 2009.