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Mayor Fenty and Logan Circle representatives
greet the crowd at the groundbreaking for the
10th Street Park. Photo: Amanda Abrams
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Logan Circle residents finally found the perfect place for a memorial to their late neighbor, Connie Maffin, who died on Feb. 16 from a brain aneurysm. In a fitting tribute to Maffin’s three and a half decades of community activism, she will be commemorated in a new park on 10th Street, a once-vacant lot whose upcoming development is directly due to residents’ efforts to transform their neighborhood.
An overflowing crowd was on hand at 10:30 a.m. on Sept. 24, to witness the park’s groundbreaking. Marveling at the large audience, Mayor Adrian Fenty described how the park will turn blight and vacancy into a multi-use area when it opens in spring 2010. Stacy Hannah, president of the Friends of 10th Street Park group, described the arduous year-plus process of turning the park into a reality.
But Maffin and her energetic efforts to improve her neighborhood – particularly as a pioneering member and officer of the Logan Circle Community Association (LCCA) – were never far from mind. Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans described a call he received shortly after he was first elected in 1991. “It was Connie, asking if I could get her sidewalk bricked up,” he said. “So that was my very first project – getting a sidewalk of Vermont Avenue bricked.”
Creating the park, a long rectangular lot between L and M streets, required a similar type of tenacity. Neighbors contacted their city representatives and sat through many meetings before the District government agreed to develop a park on the site. But by next spring, the spot should include benches and a small fountain, as well as a long walkway inscribed with quotes about community service. Memorial columns will commemorate Maffin’s life and career.
Tim Christensen, an LCCA board member who worked closely with Maffin, explained that the LCCA had been searching for a place to memorialize her when they finally met with the Friends of 10th Street Park. “We were welcomed with open arms,” he said. “I think the group feels the memorial will be an enhancement.” |
