Press Advisory for Immediate Release October 21, 2009 Fenty Administration Breaks Ground on New Justice Park Contact: Sean Madigan, (202) 615-2029 (cell) (Washington, DC) – Today, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, and DC Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) Acting Director Ximena Hartsock, joined the Ward 1 community for a groundbreaking ceremony to celebrate the beginning of construction for a new Justice Park, to be located at 14th and Euclid Streets, NW.  "Working together with our residents, we have created a new community-designed park which is part of a larger effort to bring positive change to this neighborhood," said Mayor Fenty.  "Next year, this now vacant lot will be filled with activity and residents." The final plan for the conversion of this quarter-acre vacant lot into a beautiful new park was developed in partnership by DPR,  the Office of  the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) and the neighborhood, and will offer a number of new features and amenities. The park will include a 40-plot community garden as well as new landscaping, benches and walkways and a central plaza and patio. It will also comply with accessibility standards under the Americans with Disabilities Act. "DPR has seen a growing interest from our residents in the environment and gardening,” said DPR Acting Director Hartsock. “DPR is proud to help support our urban gardeners with a new Justice Park." By the end of the week, DMPED is expected to issue a solicitation for the former Justice Park site – located just north of the new park – seeking a development partner to build about two dozen new units of housing on the site. Late last month, the District unveiled the nearby Columbia Heights Plaza Fountain, a partnership between the District Department of Transportation and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. In July, the District re-opened the 14th and Girard Street Park after an extensive renovation. Updates on the construction and progress of the project are available on the Project Page for Justice Park on DPR's website, DPR.DC.GOV, in the Planning and Capital Projects section.