DC residents react to future RFK Stadium campus plans during open house

What do D.C. residents think about the RFK Stadium campus? It depends on who you ask.

Mayor Muriel Bowser鈥檚 office hosted the first of two RFK Campus Master Plan Open Houses Tuesday evening at the Department of Employment Services on Minnesota Avenue in Northeast D.C.

The lobby was packed with people looking at interactive boards on easels that showed images of the plans for the site.

The content was separated into six stations, with the first three being information stations.

The other three were interactive; people could give feedback by placing stickers on things they liked or by writing messages on sticky notes.

Walking around the room was longtime Burgundy and Gold fan Barbara Morgan. Morgan, who will be 93 years old in April, lives 10 minutes away from the old RFK Stadium.

鈥淚’m glad they’re coming back,” Morgan said. 鈥淭hey never should have left.鈥�

Two items that caught Morgan鈥檚 attention on one of the boards were a farmer鈥檚 market and sit-down restaurants.

While Morgan did enjoy looking around, she said the plans should be shared to students in D.C. high schools.

鈥淏ecause they are the future for this city,鈥� Morgan said.

Another lifelong Washingtonian who wanted to see the plans was Ashton McCullers.

The 19-year-old college student told 海角精品黑料 that he’s part of D.C. Vault, a pole vault club with a $250,000 facility on East Capitol Street, right by the old stadium site.

鈥淲e need to make sure that opportunities like this come back to the city and aren’t pushed out of the city by bigger infrastructure,鈥� McCullers said.

The college athlete has set records at his school and got a full scholarship, thanks to pole vaulting.

鈥淚f it wasn’t for pole vaulting, I wouldn’t be where I am right now,” McCullers said. “It taught me discipline. It’s taught me how to keep going when stuff gets hard.鈥�

Chatting on the other side of the room was Emmanuel Irono, who has lived on Capitol Hill for over 35 years and has owned a small business there for over 30.

鈥淚 believe that this opportunity for the city can be positive if we are inclusive of us that have been in the neighborhood before the stadium comes,鈥� Irono said. 鈥淲e still want to be in our community and do things that are affordable.鈥�

Walking around and checking out every board in each station was Harper Scott Martin, who told 海角精品黑料 that he and his wife live on Oklahoma Avenue in Northeast.

鈥淚 look out onto the North lot of what used to be the RFK Stadium,鈥� Scott Martin said. 鈥淓verything that’s being planned here right now is going to affect my life for the next however many decades I continue to live there.”

Scott Martin was pleased to see that 鈥渢hey’re planning to build community sports facilities鈥� near his home, 鈥渨hich is better than some alternatives.鈥� But he has questions about the plans to build parking garages with around 8,000 total spots.

鈥淚t seems like a game of hot potato with the parking garages right now,鈥� Martin said. 鈥淪how me an NFL stadium without 10s of 1,000s of parking spaces.”

“If they only build the 8,000 they say they’re going to build, I’d be very surprised.鈥�

Martin appreciates the way the city put the event together, and said it was 鈥渧ery thoughtfully presented and organized.鈥�

鈥淚 realize this is the city really putting their best foot forward and trying to gather our opinions,鈥� Scott Martin said. 鈥淭o what degree our opinions will end up being factored into all the final decision making is kind of an open question for us.鈥�

The next open house is .