Development at RFK

D.C. Council member Kenyan R. McDuffie (I-At Large) recently said it’s time to “hit the refresh button” on the redevelopment of the RFK Stadium site. I couldn’t agree more. In fact, interested D.C. residents, including me, have been meeting with Events DC for more than five years, reimagining that very space in ways that do not necessarily include a stadium.

Those who live close to the imaginatively named RFK Campus have a vested interest in what goes there, having lived through some of the nightmares that occurred because of a stadium being nearby. Some “refresh buttons” have already been hit by D.C. residents. New Commanders football team ownership does not necessarily translate into a winning team or management, so a stadium at that location shouldn’t be a consideration. A good place for Mr. McDuffie to do his “reimagining” of a new NFL stadium community might be along the shores of the Anacostia at Poplar Point, in the Stadium District. There, he can reimagine all he wants and can do as Robert F. Kennedy might say: “Dream things that never were.”

Skip Strobel, Washington
The writer is founder of RFK Peace Park Group and Care fo Giden’s Garden at RFK Campus.