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Next to a shuttered 7-Eleven, at the corner of Mount Pleasant Street NW and Kenyon Street NW, people sit at tables, play cards and socialize in a small undeveloped area.
This area is part of a small park, which in 2023 was named “Amigos Park,” that longtime resident Arturo Griffiths and others in D.C.’s Mount Pleasant neighborhood have not only been fighting to save, but also pushing the city to expand.
“Imagine a space like this park is going to be beneficial, not only for us here, but for the entire community,” Griffiths said, as he stood next to renderings of an expanded park complete with more tables, a stage and seating area.
There is concern the project in the largely Latino neighborhood is at risk of not happening as he envisioned because the city and the park’s developer have reportedly hit a stalemate in negotiations.
The problem is half the open area is owned by the city and the other half is owned by California-based developer, Megdal Investments.
Griffiths leads the group Amigos Park Coalition, which was formed to make the project a reality.
Chris Jarman, also part of the coalition, said his discussions with the developer got them on board with the project that the city has isolated $1.3 million to build.
Jarman said the developer and the city’s Department of General Services, which negotiates land deals, had been in talks for a 99-year lease on the property, but he learned recently that the negotiations ended without a deal.
“They were just a few thousand dollars apart, and the city didn’t want to talk about it anymore. They just dropped it. So, we’re now at an impasse,” Jarman said.
Jarman also said the city indicated to the coalition that to move forward, the group would have to settle with a much smaller park that would sit on the land the city already owns.
In a letter to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, Bruce Megdal, the CEO of the company who owns the land, said that upon hearing about the push for a park on the land, he believed the park would be “mutually beneficial” for not only his company but also the neighborhood. Megdal added that he wants to “consummate an agreement” to proceed with the plans for an expanded park.
Megdal told WTOP he is open to continuing negotiations so the park can become a reality.
“It doesn’t make any sense to put a park on that sliver of land. It’s not good for the corner. It’s not good for the community,” Megdal said.
In his letter to the city, he claimed that if the funding for the construction of the project is a concern, the company would be willing to work with the city, which includes a potential charitable donation to the park.
The Department of General Services said in a statement to WTOP that funding guidelines prohibit the city from using public funds “for improvements on non-District owned property.”
“Unfortunately, this means that more extensive capital upgrades for a larger park, as well as the lease for the privately-owned land required for a larger park, are currently unbudgeted,” said Elliott Kozuch, a spokesperson for DGS.
Typically, cities shy away from building things such as parks unless at the end of the deal, a city owns the land on a lease.
“To explore a potential larger park solution, we are willing to engage with the owner of the private property to discuss the possibility of a donation or other forms of support,” the DGS statement continued.
While the pause in talks may be a negotiation tactic, Jarman said the current situation leaves them very concerned.
“We’re worried, of course, we’re hopeful, but we’re worried that they could give this money away,” Jarman said.
Griffiths, a native of Panama, said parks are a very important part of life for people from Latin America, adding that it’s evident by how many people are already using the space. He said a park, not much larger than a sidewalk in width, will not meet the need.
“The Latino community sort of started this process, but the park is going to be for everybody in the community,” Griffiths said.
Right now, with a lack of infrastructure and little maintenance being done to the area, Jarman said the vacant area allows for illegal activities to take place, and he believes the building of the park — with lots of lighting — will bring that to an end.
“All of this would be on a level space. And this would be a chessboard terrace, game boards. So, it’s all open. It’s all more visible to the public,” Jarman said.
Griffiths said the community deserves the full park as designed, and said the end of negotiations has left him not only concerned but upset.
“I am pissed off at the city, and some of the people are too, because they now want to do this thing for the Latino community that wants this park,” he said.
He’s calling on the negotiations to start again and for the city to bring them into the negotiations — something he said hasn’t been done up to this point.
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