Work Continues on DC Parks Project

The D.C. Parks and Recreation contracting controversy has put the brakes on more than a dozen projects around the District, but FOX 5 found work continuing on at least one of them.

The former Gage-Eckington School in LeDroit Park has been demolished, and a work crew was at the scene doing site preparation work for a three-acre community park. That, while the D.C. Council and the Fenty administration try to resolve what happens next.

The council has scheduled another hearing and is issuing subpoenas for two more members of the executive branch as it tries to figure out why contracts were steered past council oversight to Fenty friends and supporters.

Members of the LeDroit Park community say they feel caught in the middle of political infighting.

Then there's 7th and N, another project barely begun. It's a fenced-in area slated to be a neighborhood park. D.C. Councilmember Jack Evans says there have been two homicides in the neighborhood, and a new park would make living better for residents.

Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Doris Brooks says senior citizens there have been looking forward to a new place to relax and socialize. Now, they don't know what's going to happen.

"All of a sudden, it's just like giving candy to a baby and then taking it back," Brooks said.