Mayor Wu and a cadre of city leaders visited Town Field in Fields Corner last Friday morning for the launch of her 2023 Neighborhood Coffee Hour event and used the occasion to officially cut the ribbon at the park’s recently renovated Gibson Playground.

As residents sipped their coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts and collected their home-grown potted plants from the Parks Department, the mayor took a different approach from last year, when the rancor of megaphone catcalls and protesters’ arrests dominated several of her neighborhood events: She announced some news with the Office of Neighborhood Services coordinators and answered two pre-submitted questions.

The first question was on pedestrian and traffic safety, and the second, about potential overdevelopment of new housing in Dorchester, drew great interest from attendees.

“Every generation has to make tough decisions about tradeoffs and whether spaces remain open space or become badly needed affordable housing or some other uses like a school,” Wu said. “This is not a process that can be a conversation with me in my head at City Hall…This has to be built on planning.”

For those in the crowd of 150 adults and youngsters who were lobbying the mayor specifically against the apartment building project proposed for 150 Centre St. on the Fitzpatrick Bros. property, this statement raised more than a few eyebrows, particularly among those who are in favor of family-style housing for the abutting Epiphany School, many of whom were passing out and wearing stickers that read, “Mayor Wu I support building homes for families NOT rentals for Investors.”

The mayor joined Parks Commissioner Ryan Woods for the playground’s ribbon cutting for the $1.5 million rebuild that was officially opened to the public on Friday. A new padded surface has been put in place along with a nice splash pad water feature for keeping cool, and state-of-the-art play structures that resemble tree houses.

Paulo Debarros, of the Cape Verdean Association of Boston, and C-11 Capt. Shawn Burns.

LaToya Gayle and Shirley A. Jones, of Meetinghouse Hill Civic.

Annie Lee of Celtic Daycare was all about dancing up a storm and eating a healthy orange slice on Friday.

Life-long Field Corner resident Christian Rosa, of Rosa’s Liquors, Lynn Hackett, Author Neusa Lopes, and At-large Councillor Julia Mejia.

C-11 CSO Officer George Downing with ADSL Director Candice Gartley.

Bill Walczak, Judith Baker, and Rahsaan King, who was in town from Houston to learn from Walczak about hospital-community health center partnerships.

Brendan Sheehan and Nicola Grealish used the time to catch up on neighborhood issues.

John Finley, of Epiphany School, and David Leonard, president of the Boston Public Library.

Parks Commissioner Ryan Woods announces the opening of the new playground at Town Field.

Mayor Michelle Wu changed up the Neighborhood Coffee Hour format a bit on Friday, answering some tough questions that were submitted ahead of time.

Dorchester native Tri Tran and Viet AID Director George Huynh.

Police Liaison Lieu Nguyen, Officer Carol Collins, and Police Liaison Catia Pina.

Kit Binns, of Uphams Corner, and Matthew Dickey.