
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, September 17, 1993                   TAG: 9309170181
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

LANSDOWNE-AREA CHILDREN REGAINING SPOT TO BE KIDS

There used to be basketball courts and a playground at Lansdowne Park public housing development, but years of adding onto buildings and paving new lots overran it all.

That left Lansdowne, at Salem Turnpike and 24th Street in a park-poor patch of the city, without a recreational area on the premises or even nearby.

But with about $120,000 in federal grant money and a key contribution, the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority has begun construction on a four-acre recreational area immediately across from Lansdowne.

The area will include a baseball diamond, two basketball courts and a playground for small children.

"We'll build it primarily for Lansdowne," said Wesley White of the housing authority, "but we think it'll become a neighborhood thing."

Alan L. Amos Inc., an excavator, is donating use of the equipment for grading the site - a task that should be done within a month.

White said much of the work could be completed by winter.

The area will be adjacent to the Melrose branch of the city library and will meet back-to-back with Forest Park Elementary School.

by CNB