Lovejoy Park Group Ponders Fundraising Ideas

On Tuesday, Friends of Lovejoy Park held a meeting to update the public on the latest developments with the park.

Lovejoy Park will be located on the mostly asphalt area next to the old Lovejoy Elementary School, at 12th between D and E Streets. The school is being converted to loft-style condominiums. (For earlier stories on Lovejoy Park, see the Nov. 2, Jan. 19 and Jan. 25 issues of the Corner Forum.)

Tuesday's meeting began at 7 p.m. and was held at the Teachers Credit Union, at 9th and D Streets NE.

The process of establishing our nonprofit organization is almost complete. We now have a tax ID number. In addition, after much searching, a low-cost institution has been found to establish a checking account.

Winter Properties, the developer of Lovejoy Lofts, has requested architectural drawings to estimate the cost of doing the initial site work. The Department of Parks and Recreation should have the drawings ready next week.

Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner (6A05) Michael Musante will soon establish a listserv for the effort.

There was also some brainstorming for fundraising ideas. Among the group's ideas: memorial bricks, contacting local businesses such as Home Depot, and throwing a block party or a Fourth of July party.

Various subcommittees most likely will be needed, so we were asked to think about candidates for chairs.

We also discussed how to encourage more people to attend future meetings.

We then did some brainstorming on things we would like to see in the park, and we came up with a duck pond.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:20. §