By Gene Lambey
Special to the AFRO
The newly elected board for Friends of Kingman Park (FOKP), a Ward 7 committee consisting of local residents, held their first community meeting on Jan. 16 at St. Benedict the Moor Catholic Church’s Imperial Room at 7 p.m. on a cold winter night.
With about 25 residents physically present and 10 other residents attending virtually, the meeting offered a forum for residents to discuss community issues and the future of Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) Stadium. Newly sworn-in Ward 7 Councilman Wendell Felder (D) was the guest of honor; he attended virtually.
Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Ebony Payne, Ward 7, D-05, spoke at the meeting about community concerns in her district, such as a rise in carjackings and shootings, complaints about parking tickets from the District Department of Transportation (DDOT), rat infestations and – the loudest complaint from the Kingman Park community – the demolition and rebuilding of the RFK Stadium.
Residents advocated for more police enforcement, particularly around 20th and Gales streets, which have seen an uptick in crime, according to one resident. The resident listed up to three months of juvenile crime and shooting activities from Nov. 7 to Jan. 16. Residents asked for an effective police response, and advocated for continuing the neighborhood watch.
Councilman Felder expressed his commiseration with residents at the crimes and insisted that he would like to do more community meetings for Ward 7 and bring in all three police commanders from the Fifth and Sixth districts.
The fledgling lawmaker added that he is in the process of setting up a Ward 7 leadership council which, “would serve as a council for ANC leaders, civic associations leaders, our commanders of our various districts and business community leaders,” to organize together. He lastly addressed the juvenile crime issue by insisting on creating a youth committee for Ward 7 to get the input of younger residents concerning their needs.
On another note, Felder advised that his office is looking for Ward 7 residents to fulfill four positions: a director of communications, a legislative assistant, a special assistant, and an additional constituent associate. He encouraged the Ward 7 residents to apply on the DC Council website.
While crime is always a central issue, most of the meeting attendees were concerned about the demolition around the RFK Stadium and how it would affect the air quality of the Kingman Park community and the surrounding neighborhoods. Residents said they would like to be better informed about the plans for the rebuilding of the stadium–what would be the range of the construction, how it would affect the traffic in the area, and would construction expand into the residential areas similar to how Nationals Park and Audi Field were constructed. The District is now in control of the stadium since President Joe Biden signed the legislation.
Events DC will continue taking charge of demolishing the structure. The demolition process has happened in four stages since 2023, starting from the abatement for asbestos and disconnecting utilities to the removal of the stands.
The third stage – structural demolition – is slated to start at the end of the month. It will take up to 22 months or almost two years to complete. Many concerns from the community regarding this third stage are how the hazardous particles and debris will affect residents and the environment surrounding the area.
One resident attended an Events DC meeting, where they discussed the procedure and what they would do to reduce the environmental hazards, including air contamination. Residents said they would like to be informed of the process before the date of the demolition, with a detailed report from Events DC and the D.C. Council documenting the effects on the environment and the air quality.
Diana Hibbs, a resident of the Kingman Park community, gave her thoughts on the meeting.
“What I would like to say is we really need to get together as a community and start the RFK Task Force back up because otherwise we’re really not going to have a say. There’s a lot of issues, especially as it relates to the environmental impact study. I’ve heard from officials that it is not needed but I really do think it is an actual requirement by law,” said Hibbs. “There is a lot of toxicity in the land on RFK Stadium.”
Hibbs continued, “All the other issues as it relates to traffic and trash, I do know 65 to 80 percent of the community really wanted the RFK campus to be developed for the community. They did not want to bring a stadium back here. We need the community to come out and join the RFK Task Force so that we can have a say in what happens to the campus.”
One anonymous resident gave their thoughts to the AFRO regarding the topic of the stadium demolition.
“The mayor thinks this is a done deal but she is not doing anything to protect Kingman Park, which is a D.C. historical neighborhood. We need answers.”
ANC 7D-05 Ebony Payne gave her remarks after the meeting.
“Now that the legislation has been passed, it is important for people to get a sense of where the community stands, especially in light of the fact that the team is having a historic season,” she said.
“IWhat I have found today is that feelings have not changed. There’s still a lot of community opposition,” said Payne. “The top concerns are still around traffic and environmental [issues]. That will be my main focus as well as our public safety concerns. It does not seem to matter that the statistics have gone down. We’re feeling an uptick in crime and so those concerns really need to be addressed first.”
Dustin Hicky, the newly elected secretary for FOKP gave his remarks.
“This is our first meeting with the new board. I think we got a lot of good feedback from the community on a variety of topics. We got some good ideas on things we need to look at going forward. RFK Stadium and everything related to that and different aspects of crime in the neighborhood, so it is something I am glad to hear from the community about,” he said.
“I’m glad [Councilman Felder] was able to join us virtually and he just started a couple weeks ago so it’s good to hear that he’s got some plans going forward and we look forward to working with them in the future.”
Steven Ho, the newly elected president of FOKP, shared his thoughts on the meeting.
“When the community shows up, I am always happy to hear different opinions because that is the only way that we can sort of advance the benefit of the neighborhood is to hear from different sides of the community,” said Ho. “I appreciate when people are passionate and have a lot of opinions about what is going on because we want to incorporate and keep in mind that as we sort of try to help to inform the community.
“I am personally excited to see what Councilmember Felder has planned for his term in council. I think he provided a lot of grand, lofty ideas and I think as we saw, we have plenty of people who want to hold him accountable for his plans and see that his actions do back him up. “
He added about the RFK Stadium issue: “I know that the RFK Stadium and its future is a very hot topic for a lot of people in D.C. and in particular in this neighborhood, so we are…we are being open minded to hearing from everyone’s opinions and we want to hear from the Commanders themselves, the mayor’s office, D.C. Council and we hope that people from the community voice their opinions so that we can be able to present them to the officials involved so that our community is heard.”
The D.C. Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Campus Revitalization Act was signed by President Joe Biden on Jan. 6 at the White House. District stakeholders that attended the signing of the bill included Mayor Muriel Bowser and Washington Commanders owners Josh Harris, Mitch Rales and Mark Ein.
The legislation transfers control of the RFK campus from the federal government to the District for the next 99 years. Plans consist of constructing the space to be used for multiple purposes, including a new stadium for the Washington Commanders.
“It is a good day for D.C. when we finally have control of our own destiny at the RFK campus,” Mayor Bowser said at the bill signing. “We are ready and optimistic about unlocking the full potential of this space, and with more than 170 acres of land we can do it all – deliver housing, economic opportunity, green space, recreation, sports and more.”
According to a June 2024 report commissioned by Mayor Bowser, the construction of a new Commanders stadium would bring in “$1.26 billion” in economic output and was projected to produce over 15,000 jobs.
Two years ago, Mayor Bowser attended a much larger public meeting, telling residents of the area about the proposal for the reconstruction and seeking city ownership of the RFK Stadium campus. A majority of the population responded to an online survey regarding the future of the RFK campus.
At that time, there was a large consensus from the Kingman Park neighborhood to not build a new stadium for the Commanders. It was a 2-3 vote or 65 percent in opposing the construction of a new multi-purpose Commanders stadium, according to the community survey. The remaining vote was in favor of a sports and recreation center, another recreational space similar to The Fields, or more housing.
According to residents of the Kingman Park community at that time, the main concerns were parking, housing, increased traffic, littering, removing a historical site and having D.C. resident tax dollars used toward the construction of the new stadium.
Residents in the immediate area, at the time, expressed displeasure with Mayor Bowser’s presentation and many said they did not feel they were given the opportunity to ask questions on the topic. Mayor Bowser seemed to deflect the community response as she was in favor of the construction of the new multi-purpose Commanders stadium for economic and job growth in D.C.
The overall layout of the RFK Stadium campus is 174 acres of open parking space on the southern side; to the north, The Fields, a recreational space for soccer, baseball, football and a large playground area owned by Events DC; in addition, the Maloof Skatepark on the campus is owned by Events DC, located in front of the RFK Stadium across from the Armory.
The construction of a new stadium for the Commanders is something that NFL fans and fans of the Commanders who may also live in or outside of D.C. would like to see happen immediately. With the Commanders having their best season yet since the 1991 Super Bowl Championship team, the momentum will continue rising.
Regardless, the residents of Ward 7, some who experienced the ‘80s and ‘90s period of the RFK Stadium, may have to relive that experience again. Older residents of Kingman Park, especially, recall the overcrowded parking; congested traffic on C Street NE, Oklahoma Avenue NE, and Benning Road NE; trash littered on the streets; open grills in the residential areas; fans disturbing the peace and defecating in the neighborhoods.
A much larger FOKP meeting, similar to the meeting from two years ago, is planned to take place on Feb. 20, where residents can talk extensively about the RFK Stadium’s demolition process with two representatives from the Commanders. It will be held at St. Benedict the Moor’s Imperial Room at 7 p.m.
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