Neighborhood Notes - Foxhall: 1 November, 2000

Last Saturday over fifty kids turned out for the annual Halloween costume parade in Foxhall, one of our best turnouts ever, helped by sunny dry weather. This year every child won a certificate, in creative categories conjured up on the spot by the judges. It was interesting that classic costume themes predominated – e.g. princesses, dragons, pumpkins; plus creative original hand-made costumes (Sherlock Holmes). Fads of recent years like Mutant Ninja Turtles or Power Rangers were utterly absent. The pumpkin-decorating table was a big hit, with surplus pumpkins going to Entotto’s restaurant to be turned into Ethiopian Pumpkin Soup. Thanks Vicki Crooke for making this year’s event a success.

The countdown continues to a mid-November start date for the soccer/softball fields renovation at Hardy. Weather permitting, it should be done in a few weeks. Once completed, D.C. Parks & Recreation will permanently fence this irrigated, sod turf, multi-purpose field to protect it from roving teams who might tear it up by playing too soon after rain, or from all-wheel drive-vehicle vandals who find new turf a tempting target. The “Friends of Hardy” will work with the Center Director to help extend neighborhood hours of access beyond the hours that staff are on duty.

Former Brady estate on Foxhall Road across from the German Embassy is on the market, and we now see two competing ideas emerge for its use. First is from developer Lewis Bloom, who recently built MacArthur Court  on MacArthur Boulevard. He proposes either single-family homes, for which it is zoned as R1B, or a Planned Unit Development like Hillandale, or a select number of large mansions, or a nine-hole golf course! The alternate idea is to see if the land can be bought as a Nature Conservancy, for this property backs directly onto Glover-Archbold Park.

 © Bob Andrew, Foxhall