Tommy told a story during our staff meeting on Monday morning that he at one point during Ward 6 Family Day at the Rosedale Recreation Center on Saturday, he looked around and saw kids playing basketball, kids taking tennis lessons, kids taking t-ball lessons from Nationals coaches, adults playing softball, people swimming, MPD officers cooking burgers and hot dogs on the grill, folks sitting in the shade and around tables socializing -- a scene, he said, that could have been taking place anywhere in America, but was taking place at the center of a neighborhood that has see some of the most alarming rates of crime in the city's history. He said it gave him a good feeling to see all that positive energy.  

But it took a lot of work, on the part of our staff, the staff of the Department of Parks and Recreation, MPD, and others to put that event together.  It will take an equivalent amount of work going forward to maintain that level of energy and optimism.  During the summer months, the Department of Parks and Recreation is offering four two-week summer camps for children between the ages of 6 and 13 at the Rosedale Recreation Center.  The Committee on Human Services will check in on those summer camps from time to time to see how they are doing.  Are eligible kids receiving two free meals a day, are there plenty of positive activities for them to do during the summer months, what are they, and what will the kids be doing during the rest of the summer?

Ward 6 Family Day showed us that the Rosedale Recreation Center can be a symbol of everything that's great about our city.   It also showed us that whatever it is to become is up to all of us.