POTOMAC GARDENS PROJECTS

POTOMAC GARDENS PROJECTS

POTOMAC GARDENS PROJECTS

Potomac Gardens, known to some of its residents as "Magic City", is a housing project located at 1225 G Street SE, in Capitol Hill, Southeast, Washington, D.C., thirteen blocks to the southeast of the United States Capitol building.

The property is owned by the District of Columbia Housing Authority, and its 352-units are divided into family and senior housing. It was constructed between 1965 and 1968 in a now criticized model of public housing design, as the buildings are conspicuous and isolated from the greater neighborhood context.

Potomac Gardens was designed by the Metcalf and Associates architectural firm, and was built from 1965 and 1968 by Edward M. Crough, Inc. It contained the innovative Potomac Gardens Multi-Service Center, bringing community services into the new public housing project.[2] The Friendship House on Capitol Hill ran the Center with the help of site-coordinator S. Preston-Jones and with additional funding from the Junior League.

In 1971, the Greater Washington Board of Trade, the regional business association, gave its Award for Excellence in Architecture to the builder, Edward M. Crough, Inc., and the architectural firm, Metcalf and Associates, of Potomac Gardens.[5] The Edward M. Crough Center for Architectural Studies at Catholic University is named after Potomac Gardens' builder.[6]

Many of the earliest residents had escaped the harsh life of agricultural work, especially cotton picking, in the South.[7] As part of the City Lights Program funded by the DC Humanities Council, senior residents worked with curators and public historians to create a traveling museum exhibition and a documentary about their historical experiences. Many musicians and bands have emerged from Potomac Gardens, including The East Coast Connection with its single "Summer in the Parks" and, more recently, SouljaGanG Bilal. Potomac Gardens also figures in numerous novels, such as James Patterson's Cross (2006)[8] and George Pelecanos' The Cut (2011).[9]

Former White House aide and U.S. Marine officer Oliver North performed some of his court-ordered, 1,200 hours of community service there before his Iran-Contra conviction was overturned.[10]

In 1995, Steven Park founded the Little Lights Urban Ministries, which serves children in Potomac Gardens and the surrounding area.[11] In Faith Forward, Steven and Mary Park discuss their religious conversions and the importance of Potomac Gardens' residents to their religious work.[12] In 2013, Liane Scott brought Grassroots DC to Potomac Gardens to provide training in journalism and media production to residents there, who then go on to produce media coverage that educates policy makers and the public at large about issues and causes that are vital to the under-served communities of the District of Columbia Metropolitan Area.

In 1991, Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly had fences installed around and within the property, against the wishes of some residents. "It’s disrespectful. We aren’t animals. We don’t need to be caged," one resident told The Washington Post. It took 45 police officers to quell a violent negative reaction.[14] Mayor Kelly was vindicated, at least in the short term: Drug arrests declined dramatically after the fence went up, though crimes did continue.[15] [16] [17] But much of the drug activity just shifted to other areas, and assaults and robberies remained high—to the point in 1995 that Marion Barry’s administration hired the Nation of Islam on an emergency contract to restore order.[18]

Jesse Jackson used the project as a backdrop for a press conference to announce he wouldn’t run for president in 1992, calling it “the urban crisis personified, the epitome of national neglect.”[10]

There has been speculation that the housing project would be redeveloped using Hope VI funding to create mixed-income housing. The 2006 Washington, D.C. city budget included funding for "A joint venture redevelopment between DCHA and a private developer to do a one-for-one replacement of 510 units of public housing located in the present Potomac Gardens and Hopkins Plaza developments. The proposed redevelopment will be a mixed income rental and home ownership containing 510 replacements units out of a total 1,230 units located on the two public housing sites and in the adjoining neighborhood." [19] A detailed plan by University of Pennsylvania School of Design was proposed in 2010 called Choice Neighborhoods Washington, DC.[1] On June 7, 2012, the Washington, D.C. Housing Authority issued a statement on potential redevelopment of the housing project, stating "We considered several sites for our HUD HOPE VI applications. We chose Capper/Carrollsburg, whichh was selected and received a HOPE VI grant for $34.9M. We do not have plans to redevelop Potomac Gardens at this time."[20] Other speculation has circulated that Potomac Gardens was slated to be sold for use as additional U.S. Marine barracks, as the location is one of only a few locations meeting the criteria set forth by the U.S. Marine Corps.[21]

In June 2010, fifteen individuals were arrested, according to a joint press release issued in conjunction with the U.S. Attorney’s office, the MPDC, the FBI and the U.S. Park Police, who all worked together on the arrests as part of a long-term a task force combating gangs, drugs and violence. The bust yielded heroin, cocaine, guns, scales and other drug trafficking paraphernalia and was described as significant by the MPD1 Commander David Kamperin.[22] In November 2011, a series of violent attacks in the area surrounding the project drew widespread media attention and a response from MPDC Police Chief Cathy Lanier.