?Norton to Speak at Dedication of The Yards Park-Diamond Teague Park Pedestrian Bridge

Norton to Speak at Dedication of The Yards Park-Diamond Teague Park Pedestrian Bridge

November 21, 2011

WASHINGTON, DC – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) will speak at the dedication of The Yards Park-Diamond Teague Park Pedestrian Bridge tomorrow, November 22, at 1:30 p.m. Earlier this month, The Atlantic Cities website named The Yards Park one of America's best new parks, saying the park's "visually memorable design and a unique water feature will make this one of the best and most contemporary public spaces in D.C. for years to come."

The Yards, formerly called the Southeast Federal Center, resulted from Norton's Southeast Federal Center Public-Private Development Act of 2000, which allowed private sector development of federal land for the first time. Norton wrote the unique law, launching a new direction in federal land use, which has benefited the District of Columbia as well as the federal government. Now in the process of development, the land, which was an eye sore of dilapidated Navy Yard structures, will generate billions of dollars in revenue for the city.

Norton said, "The revitalization of the large M Street corridor has been about a lot more than the fabulous new mixed-use buildings that are coming soon. We planned The Yards Park and the bridge as integral to the development of the new Yards community, ensuring that the space would, in fact, be a community and not another sea of office buildings. Now, with The Yards Park-Diamond Teague Park Pedestrian Bridge and new retail coming this year, there can be no doubt that the apartment and condo residents already in the area are assured that they are in one of the city's most livable and desirable neighborhoods."