Sherwood Recreation Center, at 9th & G, to Open on October 8 | ||
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The following update about Sherwood Recreation Center, at 9th and G Streets NE, was submitted on Wednesday by Joseph Fengler, chairman of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 6A (the ANC for the Corner Forum area). Mr. Fengler is the commissioner for 6A02. He can be reached at 423-8868 or fengler6a02@yahoo.com. This morning I had the opportunity to meet with D.C. Parks and Recreation officials (Saundra Ratliff and Lou Hall) as well as the contractor completing Sherwood Recreation Center. 1. Opening date for the public is scheduled for Oct. 8. 2. The contractor has nearly completed the facility. As of today, the contractor, not Parks and Recreation, has oversight of the facility. Once the facility is turned over to Parks and Recreations, they will start installing the recreation equipment and office furniture. 3. The facility will have a weight room with adjoining showers and locker rooms, a computer room, a library / reading room, a senior's room, a game room with pool and Ping-Pong tables, as well as an indoor basketball court (with a great looking wood floor!). 4. Once open, the facility will be staffed by five employees. 5. The tentative hours will be Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday, 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. Currently the facility is not scheduled to be open on Sundays. 6. The outdoor basketball courts have removable rims / hoops. I discussed the current concerns that these outdoor courts are being used. The contractor has reset the lights so they are not on in the evening and has locked the gate. Nevertheless, the locked gate has already been vandalized, so basketball continues to be played. I recommended that they remove the hoop rims until Parks and Recreation opens the building. 7. Several folks have mentioned that illegal activity is taking place on the grounds in the evenings. I brought that to the attention of the contractor. In reality, I do not know if anything will be done about it. As the center is not open to the public, anyone on the grounds after hours is trespassing. We need to start calling the police if we see anyone on the grounds after hours. Ms. Ratliff and Mr. Hall want to work with community to address all of our concerns. We are very fortunate to have such a great facility and professional staff in our community. While I cannot speak for everyone, I think a major concern for us is the programming and activities planned for the building. To that end, both Ms. Ratliff and Mr. Hall have agreed to meet again this coming Monday, Sept. 8, at 7:30 a.m. to discuss specific programming recommendations. I encourage any who are interested to attend. I would also suggest that you e-mail your ideas directly to Mr. Hall (lou.hall@dc.gov) prior to our meeting so that we can immediately start taking about implementation and specifics. Finally, Parks and Recreations will be sending
representatives to our next ANC meeting, which will be |
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