Save Eastern Market

Washington Post

• "Flames at Eastern Market" (editorial)

  In the case of the Eastern Market disaster, the city should help vendors secure low-cost loans and negotiate their rents, sales tax payments and other bills. Because the building probably won't be restored for at least a year, some vendors may also need to relocate temporarily, perhaps to one of the nearby buildings owned by the District... The D.C. government isn't the only party that can help salvage Capitol Hill's proud community tradition. Eastern Market will reopen its outdoor vending stands on Saturday, and we hope that customers will be ready and waiting.

• "2 Fires Ravage Eastern Market, Georgetown Library in 12 Hours": Flea markets and this weekend's Market Day will go on!
• "Eastern Market, Corner Store And Cornerstone" (Philip Kennicott's column)
• "For Business Owners, It's Like a Death in the Family"
• "For Its Neighbors, A Stock of Wares That Money Can't Buy"
• "Eastern Market: Two Families Lose a Home" (Marc Fisher's blog); transcript of Fisher's live web discussion from yesterday
• Photo slide shows: The Heart of a Neighborhood and Blaze Guts Historic Eastern Market

Other sources

• "Fires damage D.C. treasures", The Washington Times
• "Bricks and mortar" (Op-Ed)
• Vendors lose everything in Eastern Market blaze, The Daily Colonial
• "Fires strike two historic D.C. sites", Associated Press
• "D.C. Mayor Vows to Rebuild Eastern Market", NBC4.com
• "Officials Sort Through Fire Damage", WJLA.com
• Tommy Wells' blog post on "Day 2"

I have the luxury of working from home on occasion, and I took that opportunity this morning so I could pop out at 10 AM and see Mayor Fenty's press conference at Eastern Market. All in all, the news he and Councilman Tommy Wells had to share was both sobering and encouraging; they said the conservative estimate is that it will take 18 to 24 months and around $30 million to completely rebuild and restore the Market's South Building. Fenty is appointing a single DC official who will serve solely as the project manager for the rebuilding effort, and said that there were already a few possibilities being looked at for for a temporary structure in the neighborhood that can house the indoor food vendors and their various needs (refrigerators, food processing machinery, ovens, and the like). And happily, all the weekend outdoor Market activities -- the normal flea markets and vendor displays, and Sunday's Market Day -- will go on as planned.

After the press conference, I was impressed to see Fenty spend more than half an hour just walking among the crowd, talking to vendors and neighborhood residents about his commitment to making the rebuilding a reality. Hovering nearby, I heard him return to a few key phrases -- “18 to 24 months is the conservative effort, but we're going to try to get it done faster than that,” “Eastern Market defines the Capitol Hill neighborhood unlike anything else,” and “we're going to give you back the Market that you've been coming to for years” (which I hope means more the atmosphere, vendors, and ambiance, and not the electrical and fire suppression systems).

• From the Washington Business Journal, “Eastern Market businesses hope for the best, brace for the worst”. Of interest in this, the vendors have started letting the District know that the building's management company, Eastern Market Ventures, hasn't been particularly communicative in the time since the fire, and the District (which owns the physical Eastern Market building and land) has more or less put the company on notice that it'll step in if the vendors remain dissatisfied.
• DCist mourned the Market this afternoon, and collected a great group of links to efforts that are already underway to move the rebuilding forward. (We're happy to be mentioned in that group of links, and I'm specifically pleased that they chose a picture I took with my crappy cellphone to illustrate their post!)
• Some nice weblog posts worth reading: Karen Kohn Bradley, at the Democracy Cell Project, Adam Clampitt, at District Matters, Ohad Ben-Yoseph's photoblog.
• “Across D.C., Mourning One Terrible Monday”, The Express. Also from The Express, a short item with video of Mayor Fenty's press conference and work being done on the Market.
• “More on the Georgetown Library Fire (and pictures)”, Capital Comment Blog of the Washingtonian:

  Squabbling over how to renovate Eastern Market, built in 1873, has gone on for more than two decades; still, not one thing has been done to fix the aging pipes and wiring, which apparently may have sparked the fire that destroyed the building. “It takes a fire to fix a village,” a top DC official said this morning after Mayor Adrian Fenty vowed to keep the market's vendors in business, and to quickly rebuild the structure—at a cost of at least $20 million and an estimated time of at least two years.

• “Fenty Pledges Funds for Eastern Market Restoration”, Washington Post
• “Eastern Market: Aftermath”, Washington Post
• “Eastern Market To Be Rebuilt Within 2 Years: Mayor To Seek Tax Relief For Vendors,” NBC4.com
• “Historic market merchants wonder, what's next?”, The Examiner
• “Market Vendors Wonder What's Next” (not the same article!), WJLA.com
• “Market Fire Likely Not Arson”, MyFoxDC.com

Looking for ways to help? As we reported yesterday, you can make donations to support the vendors via the Capitol Hill Community Foundation (don't forget to designate that your donation is for “Eastern Market: Keep It Going”). And if you'll be in the neighborhood tomorrow (May 2) evening, stop by Marty's (527 Eighth Street SE) at 6 p.m. for a fundraiser to benefit the vendors organized by the Capitol Hill Association of Merchants and Professionals.

Did we miss something? A news story, fundrasier, or neighborhood initiative? Leave it in the comments, or drop us a note!

• “Failure to Make Upgrades Cited in Eastern Market Fire”, Washington Post

  “The [capital improvements undertaken by the city in lieu of the renovation] became the easier thing to do that didn't tear into issues like North Hall versus South Hall, and farmer vendors versus craft vendors,” Tangherlini said. “The Middle East is more straightforward than this.”

• “A Fire That Could Have Been Foretold”, Courtland Milloy's column, Washington Post
• “Eastern Market's Place in the Neighborhood”, Letter to the Editor, Washington Post
• “Red Tape Delayed Sprinklers at Eastern Market”, WJLA.com
• “Privatize Eastern Market”, The Corner (NRO online)
• “Sprinklers Could Have Controlled Fire”, WTOP.com
• “After a devastating fire, Fenty vows to rebuild Eastern Market”, The Examiner
• “Eastern Market fire likely could affect surrounding businesses”, The Examiner
• “Kerry pledges help for Eastern Market vendors”, The Examiner

Just a quick post to remind folks of tonight's fundraiser for Eastern Market vendors! The Capitol Hill Association of Merchants and Professionals (CHAMPS) is hosting the event at Marty's (527 Eighth St., SE), and though there is no admission fee, CHAMPS is requesting the following contribution amounts:

Individual: $100
Business: $250
Sponsorship: $600

All donations will go to the Capitol Hill Community Foundation’s "Eastern Market… Keep it Going! Campaign." For more information, contact CHAMPS at champs@capitolhill.org or (202) 547-7788. [via Voice of the Hill]

This is a single spot in which we'll collect documents of note to the Eastern Market rebuilding process. If you have anything you feel belongs in this library, let us know -- you can drop us a line using the contact form, or send an email to us -at- saveeasternmarket.org.

Merchant-related

• South Hall merchants' statement, 5/3/2007
• Eastern Market Employment Initiative proposal, and 5/6/2007 progress report

Ads and flyers

• Fresher Outside! postcard (by Edge Advertising)
• Fresher Outside! poster (by Edge Advertising)

Designs and plans

• EMCAC Capital Improvements Committee response to the Quinn-Evans redesign revisions post-fire (6/11/2007)
• Quinn/Evans Conceptual Redesign: Introduction and photos (6/9/2007)
• Quinn/Evans Conceptual Redesign: Roof and skylight restoration (6/9/2007)
• Quinn/Evans Conceptual Redesign: Exterior lighting, site alterations, and window/door restoration (6/9/2007)
• Quinn/Evans Conceptual Redesign: Interior lighting, HVAC, and basement plans (6/9/2007)
• color map from DC of the three potential sites for the temporary indoor structure
• cost breakdown of each temporary structure option, produced by Nir Buras at EMCAC's 5/9/2007 meeting
• Temporary structure sites and sketches by the Institute of Classical Architecture and Classical America, version 3.0 (5/7/2007)
• sketch of potential temporary plans incorporating a reconnected C Street SE (5/9/2007)
• Temporary structure sites and sketches by the Institute of Classical Architecture and Classical America, version 2.0 (5/2/2007)

At this point, if you're interested in helping out the people most affected by the Eastern Market fire, there are a few different ways you can do so. This post will hopefully make some sense of the differences between them; we'll link this post into the sidebar on the left, and intend to update the post as other options arise and as other changes occur.

Do you want to donate money?

The Capitol Hill Community Foundation is accepting donations specifically to assist the vendors who operated inside the South Hall (the building which was most affected by the fire). The CHCF is a 501(c)3 organization, and as such, all donations are tax deductible; you can contribute by going to their contributions page, and should specify “Eastern Market: Keep It Going” on the designation line of the contribution form.

Tom Rall, the owner and manager of the Flea Market at Eastern Market, has organized the Eastern Market Exhibitor Relief Fund which is targeted towards the outdoors exhibitors who rely on weekend business at the Market. Donations are made through PayPal, and do not appear to be tax deductible at this time.

Are you interested in goods that support the Market rebuilding effort?

Linsey Silver, Capitol Hill resident and the graphic designer behind Element 47 Design, designed a “Rebuild Eastern Market” T-shirt, and $14 of the $20 cost of the shirts will go to the CHCF relief fund. They will be available for online sale soon!

Students of the Peabody School-Within-School created a bunch of artwork related to Eastern Market as part of a school project, and notecards have been made from the art which are for sale to support the CHCF merchant relief fund. This is the same artwork that was displayed at the Market 5 Gallery for a few weeks, and from which a selection was made of images that will be hung in the restored South Hall. This is a great way to support the Market and get some neat community-designed notecards to use to spread the word!

Do you want to eat and drink your way to a rebuilt Eastern Market?

Organizers are currently putting together Dining Out for Eastern Market for May 21st -- go eat at a participating restaurant, and part of the proceeds from your meal will go to the CHCF relief fund for the Market merchants.

Christ Church is hosting a spaghetti dinner and silent auction to benefit Eastern Market; it will be held on Friday, June 1st at 7:00 PM, and tickets need to be purchased in advance.

Do you want to do fun things to support the Market?

DC United is donating $3 from each ticket to their May 26th game against Houston to the CHCF relief fund; as most people know, DC United's home field is RFK Stadium, which might be the easternmost member of the Capitol Hill community. So if you've been looking for the right reason to venture out to RFK and take in some soccer (¿fútbol?), head over to dcunited.com and pick up some tickets!

The Capitol Hill Chorale has committed to donating half of the proceeds from their concerts the first weekend in June to the CHCF fund. The chorale is an 80-voice ensemble that has been a part of the Capitol Hill community since 1993; they perform works ranging from the classics to popular songs, from folk to jazz, and these are the last performances of the season! The concerts are on June 2nd at 8 PM and on June 3rd at 4 PM, both will be held at the Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church (at 4th Street SE and Independence Avenue), and tickets cost $20 for general seating ($25 for preferred seating, and children under 12 are free).

Do you own a business that might be able to help?

Capitol Hill business owner Byron Buck is helping organize the Eastern Market Employment Initiative, which aims to recruit local businesses which are able to offer stable temporary employment to the displaced employees of Eastern Market merchants. If you own a business on or around Capitol Hill, and think you might be able to help, drop Byron an email at EMEmploymentNetwork@earthlink.net!

• In personal communication with the director of the Market 5 Gallery (the organization which runs the North Hall of Eastern Market), we've been told that the building is ready to hold its first official post-fire event, which will be a night of tango dancing this coming Thursday, May 3rd sponsored by Tango Buddha Productions. He also mentioned that Seventh Street SE between Pennsylvania and North Carolina Avenues will be closed to all vehicular traffic on weekends until further notice; we're awaiting some sort of official confirmation of this.
• From Voice of the Hill comes news of a new group, the Save Our Market Community Action Group, which aims to be more of an ad-hoc organization of people who are interested in helping but who aren't members of any of the more established Capitol Hill community organizations. The group aims to help with such things as distributing flyers, raising awareness of public meetings, and the like.
• I'm not sure how we missed it a few days ago, but over at Metroblogging DC, Tiffany Baxendell Bridge posted a nice bit of research into the exact historic status of Eastern Market. The executive summary is that while a lot of news pieces have reported that the Market is a historic landmark, it's not -- rather, it's listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a subtle but important difference.
• Weblogger Samuel Fromartz has a nice post about the meaning of Eastern Market, both to himself and to the neighborhood.
• The folks behind EasternMarket.net are starting to use their semiregular newsletter to disseminate information about vendor, exhibitor, and flea market plans; it's definitely worth subscribing.

• There's now a Facebook group, Rebuild Eastern Market, started by DC resident Clay Johnson. The informal group's first order of business is trying to convince District bars to donate a portion of their proceeds from next Tuesday night to the Capitol Hill Community Foundation rebuilding fund, and they've started a website to track participating bars. If you're on Facebook, go join the group and help out, and no matter what, try to visit a participating bar next Tuesday to spend a little money and thank them for contributing to the Market!
• Overnight, the Save Our Market Community Action Group (mentioned in yesterday's evening news) set up a Yahoo! mailing list to use for spreading information about how people can help. There's already a request on the group for volunteers to assist by staffing a table at Eastern Market over the weekend -- we've already offered to help, so you might see us there!
• DC has set up a Restoring Eastern Market page; it's currently home to a few relevant links about the fire and the history of the Market, but hopefully will contain updates on government plans and news releases. (One thing we'd love to see that's not on the page is the text of the draft legislation Mayor Fenty is proposing which will direct all surplus revenue for the fiscal year to the Market and Georgetown Library recoveries; if anyone out there has access to the legislation, please feel free to drop us a line!)
• From Matthew Gilmore's H-Net mailing list comes some good news about that other fire that happened on Monday, the Georgetown Library fire: it looks like most of the Peabody Collection is going to be OK! (The Peabody Collection is the crown jewel of the library, housing irreplaceable DC records, maps, and newspapers.)

We just learned of another fundraising opportunity! This was posted to the Save Our Market Yahoo group:

Hi, everyone! I thought you'd be interested in knowing about a special fundraiser for Eastern Market this weekend. As you all know, since Monday's devastating fire, the community has rallied -- and the Market's in-house pottery studio is no exception. There are many like me who belong to the studio (either as professionals or as students), and we are donating our wares to raise funds for the displaced vendors and merchants. If you or your friends are so inclined, stop by the Market either Saturday or Sunday (9AM - 4PM) and look for the Eastern Market Pottery table. None of the donated pots will be priced, but rather it is "pay what you can."

On a side note, the pottery studio (located on the upper level in the North Hall) was largely spared in the fire though there is a lot of smoke and soot. We don't know yet when it will be back in operating condition but that will likely happen a lot sooner than the rebuilding of the South Hall where the food merchants are housed. There are four pottery studio "managers," one of whom makes her sole living from of her pottery sales (and happens to be my teacher, Susan Jacobs.) We are keeping our fingers crossed that the studio will re-open relatively soon.

We will be donating all proceeds from the pottery sale to the Capitol Hill Community Foundation. Thanks for all of your help and support.

• The first community meeting with the DC government has been announced -- it will be held at Hine Junior High School (8th Street SE and Pennsylvania Avenue) on Monday, May 7th from 6 to 7 PM at 7:30 PM. The meeting is specifically to solicit community input on potential solutions for the relocation of the Market vendors that have been displaced by the fire, and all neighborhood residents are urged to attend.
• Mayor Fenty has made good on his promise and appointed Harold Pettigrew as project manager for rebuilding of Eastern Market; Pettigrew will serve as the single point of contact for vendors, community groups, and all the various government agencies involved in the push to get interim solutions in place and the final rebuilding planned and completed.
• The Market fire (and this website!) got a nice mention today at Serious Eats, New York Times food writer Ed Levine's foodie weblog. It's nice to draw attention to the tragedy and the need to rebuild wherever we can find it!
• In addition to the efforts of Eastern Market Rescue to get bars and restaurants to donate a portion of next Tuesday's proceeds to the CHCF relief fund, the Hawk 'n' Dove will be holding a targeted fundraiser at the upstairs bar from 6 to 9 PM on Tuesday. Proceeds -- including tips at the bar, graciously donated by the bartenders for the evening -- will be going to the relief fund, and representatives of the CHCF will be on hand to accept donations.

On a final note, it's now officially gotten to the point where it's hard to keep track of everything that's going on to support the Market -- so we've put together a calendar that should help! You should now see a link to the calendar in the lefthand sidebar of the website, as well -- we're going to keep it up-to-date with any information we receive, so keep passing along new information as you learn it!

We are thankful to Andrew Lightman, of the Capital Community News, for this shot of the interior of the Market's South Building today.

Comparing that with this photo taken two days ago, the cleanup looks to be moving along nicely! Today's photo also makes clear that there might be quite a bit of material left that'll be salvageable by the vendors (although the various great signs that hung above Bower's Fine Dairy Products don't look to still be hanging... hopefully they just fell and are waiting to be rescued and cleaned up!).

Linsey Silver, Capitol Hill resident and the graphic designer behind Element 47 Design, designed a “Rebuild Eastern Market” T-shirt, and $14 of the $20 cost of the shirts will go to the CHCF relief fund.

The shirts -- available in men's, women's, and children's sizes -- will go on sale this morning at www.rebuildeasternmarket.net, and will also be on sale locally at Groovy DC, Maggie & Lola, and the Capitol Hill locations of Dawn Price Baby and Marvelous Market. They'll also be on sale at the Sunday flea market, and you'll probably see a bunch of vendors wearing them!

Based on a quick look at this morning's news, it seems as though we are starting to see some convergence on a temporary location for the inside vendors. In this article in the DC Examiner, for example:

City leaders have said they hope to keep merchants within a few blocks’ radius of the market’s current location off Seventh Street in Southeast. Wells, D-Ward 6, said the merchants could be allowed to move to Hine Junior High, located a block away, if it is closed at the end of the academic year under a proposed District public school consolidation plan.
“Our commitment is to be no further than two or three blocks [from Eastern Market],” Wells said. “We are going to see how creative we can be.”

Another article (Norton, Wynn, Oberstar Tour Eastern Market) makes mention of similar ideas:

“The inside vendors, the ones that can set up, we'll have them setting up here on Seventh Street. Seventh street will be closed for the entire weekend,” said D.C. City Administrator Dan Tangherlini.
Many other vendors will be temporarily located in the parking lot of Hine Junior High School across the street from Eastern Market.
“Hine would be wonderful. It would help the merchants. It would help all the vendors. It would keep us all in one family,” said Bill Glasgow of Union Meat Company.

Other news links:

• There's a great story about the fire and rebuilding on the National Report page of the New York Times today; the article notes that the walls officially appear to have suffered no structural damage, which might explain why the chain link fences are currently coming down from around the Market. (The article comes complete with a great picture of Ray Bowers, who Jason spoke with this morning and who will be set up somewhere outside the Market this weekend selling a more limited supply of cheese and dairy!)
• The Washington Post has two neat Market-related articles in today's edition, one about how firefighters found a wallet on the roof of the Market which had been stolen six weeks ago -- and was essentially intact -- and the other details the amazing work put in by the DC firefighters on both the Market and the Georgetown Library blazes.
• NBC4 had a video segment yesterday evening showing Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton touring the inside of the South Building with a few other Congressional representatives; the segment also mentions that 7th Street SE will be closed in front of the Market all weekend so that the inside merchants can set up shop outside. That's great news indeed.

The DC firefighters of Engine Company 18 and Truck 7 -- the fire station on Barracks Row -- are also going to be selling a T-shirt this weekend, with all proceeds going to the Capitol Hill Community Foundation's relief fund. (Click the image to the right to see a larger version; if you want a closer view of the logo on the front, click here.) Justin Brown, on the left in the photo, designed the T-shirt and said that they'll be selling them for $15 at the Market and at the firehouse this weekend. Thanks go out to Brown and Mike Cotter (on the right in the photo) for letting me barge in and ask to take a picture of them in the shirts!

• ABC7 News reported earlier today that the fire department developed plans to create a safe place at the main Market entrance on 7th Street SE which would give the public a chance to view the damage this weekend -- and walking by the Market this evening, it looks like they've already done it! They've also moved the chain link fences in quite a bit, so a lot of the covered sidewalk area should be available for vendors this weekend.
• There's been a lot of talk about the insurance (or under-insurance, in some instances) of the vendors who sold goods inside the Market and what that means for the rebuilding of their businesses; an article locked behind the Washington Business Journal's pay-to-read firewall talks about how the District's policy of self-insurance means that it's entirely up to DC to shoulder the cost of rebuilding the Market itself, though.
• The Post's “Going Out Gurus” weblog today gave mention to a bunch of different fundraising efforts, including the Hawk 'n' Dove party this coming Tuesday, a few of the bars and restaurants participating in the Eastern Market Rescue donation pledge for that same Tuesday, and Linsey Silver's and the fire department's T-shirts. (Remember that you can keep track of everything that's going on over the coming days and weeks via the calendar, which will remain linked in the left-hand sidebar!)
• We got a bit of link love from the folks over at Metroblogging Washington this morning -- thanks for the mention, but more importantly, thanks for keeping people interested in the rebuilding effort!

We just wanted to let everyone know that contrary to the earlier information we gleaned from a few of the DC mailing lists, it looks from the official government notice for Monday's community town hall meeting that it'll start at 7:30 PM. We've updated the calendar accordingly.

Just to remind us all of what it is we grew to love, check out these 1972 photos of Eastern Market! They were taken by Jack Boucher as part of the Historic American Buildings Survey, and are all in the public domain by virtue of them being the work product of the Federal government. (Amazingly, Boucher has worked for the National Park Service for nearly 50 years, 46 of them working on HABS.)

And now for the one bit of news this morning...

• In an incredibly cool move, DC City Administrator Dan Tangherlini has arranged for artists to paint the plywood that's covering the damaged Eastern Market windows -- the Office of Property Management is providing scaffolding for the artists, and the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities is working to organize the artists. The first painting will be done on Sunday by set designers and scenery artists from the Folger Theatre at the Folger Shakespeare Library the Shakespeare Theatre Company -- it looks like the scaffolding is already set up in front of the northernmost window area on the eastern side of the building, so keep your eyes peeled!

Finally, two notes:

First, for those who're coming to support Eastern Market this weekend but might not be terribly familiar with how to get here, our recommendation is to take the Metro -- parking will undoubtedly be even crazier than normal given the closing of Seventh Street. You just need to get to the Blue or Orange lines, and take either to the Eastern Market stop. Then, when you come out of the station on the escalators, turn around, go to Seventh Street, and cross Pennsylvania. The Market is up ahead of you one block -- trust us, you won't miss it!

Second, look for the Capitol Hill Community Foundation table somewhere either in front of the Market or in the flea market area; there, you'll be able to donate to the relief fund, you'll likely be able to pick up more information on various other efforts to support the vendors and the rebuilding, and between 12 and 2 PM on Sunday, you can meet us!

Just a quick mention -- as of right now, T-shirts are being sold at the northernmost end of the closed portion of Seventh Street, at the Capitol Hill Community Foundation table! (And of course, at the stores which are participating...)

Today, we had a chance to sit down with a few of the South Hall indoor merchants and other people involved in the temporary structure planning process, and we got a lot of information to pass along! (And as a heartening note, everyone we talked to seemed to be in good spirits, happy to be out on Seventh with whatever limited supply of their normal goods they were able to get their hands on and offer for sale today.)

As has already been rumored, there's already a short list of potential locations for the temporary structure: one is on the Eastern Market Metro plaza, one is along the northernmost edge of the lot behind Hine Junior High School, and one is along Seventh Street SE itself, directly in front of the Eastern Market building. (You can see an image showing all three possible spots here; the South Hall of the Market is highlighted in yellow, the location of the Metro escalators is highlighted in blue, and each of the three proposed sites is rendered as a darkened overhead view of the structure that would sit on that site. A dedicated rendering of the Metro Plaza site is here, and a similar rendering of the Hine Junior High and Seventh Street sites is here.)

Given the three possible options, the South Hall merchants came together on Thursday and voiced a unanimous opinion for the second location -- the one on the lot of Hine Junior High. To them, that site gives them a physical connection to South Hall as it's being rebuilt and allows them to continue to serve the Seventh Street community (stores and restaurants, artisans, and the like).

Sketches for the temporary structure were generously drawn up by the Open Design Studio of the Institute of Classical Architecture and Classical America's Mid-Atlantic Chapter , and they're pretty stunning in what they hope to achieve. The building aims to be 245 feet long, 50 feet wide, and 38 feet tall (which is as long as both current Eastern Market buildings combined), and to incorporate Adolf Cluss-inspired doorways and building ends to mirror the architecture of the Market. (The image at the top of this post is the sketch of the long face of the building; you can see a close-up of that sketch here, and a cross-sectional sketch here.) The current rendition of the plans would have 22 stalls inside the structure for merchants, and would provide full amenities in terms of plumbing, electrical and data wiring, trash storage, refrigeration, air conditioning, and the like. The main bulk would be built as a temporary structure (similar to the buildings made by Sprung, some of which are completely amazing), but the customized architectural embellishments like the doorways and building ends would potentially be reusable as landscape elements after the South Hall rebuilding is completed.

All in all, it's heartening to see that plans for the rebuilding of Eastern Market are moving along quickly. Specifically, it's great to see that attention is being paid not only to the process of getting the South Hall back into shape, but also to the needs of the South Hall merchants for the period of time it will take to return them to their former locations -- as the fundraising efforts have demonstrated over the past week, the neighborhood feels very strongly about doing everything possible to help each of the merchants remain a part of the Market family.

Before anything else, we want to make sure everyone heard that the time for tomorrow's community town hall meeting was changed to 7:30 PM. Also, in addition to the town hall, there will be a meeting of the Eastern Market Community Advisory Committee on Wednesday, May 9th, at 7:00 PM at the Old Naval Hospital on Pennsylvania Avenue (we've added it to the calendar).

In addition, we just got news of how the Capitol Hill Community Foundation did with contributions today: they took in an additional $12,500, bringing the total to date to around $150,000. That's amazing.

Finally, for the news:

• In today's Post, Stephen Ackerman has a nice review of the many, many other threats that have come to bear on Eastern Market over the past two centuries, from the British Invasion of 1814 to a Congressional attempt at converting it into a children's theater to a plan to route a freeway through the site. His conclusion is hopeful: "Eastern Market is a survivor; its third century will be its best yet." (Ackerman also contributed his perspective to the Food Museum's page on Eastern Market, which has been updated with basic information about the fire.)
• The two T-shirt efforts (Linsey Silver's "Rebuild Eastern Market" shirt, and the Barracks Row firehouse's "I Support Eastern Market" shirt) made the front page of the Post metro section today -- and by the looks of it on Seventh Street, both efforts ran out of shirts by midday!

See you all at Market Day!

The Capitol Hill Community Foundation unveiled a great poster at their table today, promoting the Eastern Market relief fund and designed by a generous graphic designer who's a friend of the organization. (Click on the poster for a larger version.) They had a stack of them available for people to take and hang up at work, at the gym, or wherever; I'm assuming that they'll have more tomorrow if you're interested in spreading the message a bit. Their table was on Seventh Street outside of Port City Java today, which is probably where you'll find them tomorrow...

• Tuesday's Hawk 'n' Dove fundraiser that we learned about last week is now going to include an auction of one of Dan Kessler's Eastern Market prints! I ogle Kessler's work -- both the images of the Market building and the baseball -- every time I walk by his weekend stand on Seventh Street, so I'm happy to think that someone will get the pleasure of having one of his prints on their wall in return for helping the merchants out a bit. They've also set a door price for the event, asking for a minimum $20 donation at the door of the upstairs bar. (In addition, the downstairs bar is participating in the Eastern Market Rescue relief by donating 5% of their returns from 7 to 10 PM -- of course, there's no door price for that bar.)
• Nan Raphael, a Hill resident and professional musician, is going to hold a benefit recital of light classical and classical/jazz fusion music in mid-June -- June 16th, to be specific. It will take place at the Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church, and donations will all go to the CHCF. (It's now on the calendar.)
• The Post has an article in the Metro section about yesterday's reopening of the Market, highlighting people's reactions as they caught glimpses inside the charred South Hall, and mentioning the former indoor merchants who were able to set up shop on the sidewalks yesterday (the Fine Sweete Shoppe and Bowers Cheeses; unmentioned was the Calomiris vegetable stand which was also going strong).
• Finally, I talked to Linsey Silver, of the awesome "Rebuild Eastern Market" T-shirts, late last night, and she'll have more available today during Market Day. So if you couldn't find one yesterday, track her down today!

Now get out there and enjoy Market Day, people -- it looks like it'll be great weather for it!

Shannon and I worked at the Capitol Hill Community Foundation table from noon to 2 today, and I'll fully admit I was amazed at how many people came by and donated money, signed up to volunteer, bought T-shirts, and asked for information about the fundraisers that will be going on this week. Probably the most touching donation, though, came from a seven year-old girl, Isabella, who walked up to the table with a brown paper bag and told us that she had decided to break open her piggy bank and donate everything inside to the merchants of the South Hall -- she literally wanted to give it directly to the merchants, so Shannon directed her to the Calomiris vegetable stand (right behind the CHCF table). She also gave them an incredibly sweet letter and drawing of her favorite things from the merchants, and we asked if we could put it online so people could see a great example of what the Market means to Capitol Hill.

Later tonight, I'll have a final tally for the amount raised at the table, but while we were there a pretty amazing amount of money made its way into the relief fund, and more importantly, the community made a clear statement about the importance the Market and its merchants have to Capitol Hill.

There seemed to be a pretty strong turnout at Market Day today -- the lines at the food stands, artist tables, and the viewing entrance to the South Hall were long, the flea market felt as busy as ever, and Mayor Fenty, Congresswoman Norton, and Councilman Wells all spent time walking Seventh Street and talking to people.

Otherwise, we were surprised to see that there wasn't much in the news this morning about Market Day, so we just have a brief update. I just spoke with Nicky Cymrot, the president of the Capitol Hill Community Foundation; today's volunteer table at the Market again netted around $12,000, bringing the total to over $160,000. CHCF has gotten a lot of questions over the past few days about how they'll use the donated money, and Nicky said it remains the case that they will focus on the South Hall merchants -- providing funding for supplies, signage for their temporary stalls, help retaining their employees, and anything else that they can do to bridge the time until they can get their businesses back up and running as they were before the fire. They intend to have a more formal mission statement available in the next day or two.

• First and foremost, don't forget tonight's community meeting to discuss temporary plans to house the South Hall vendors during the market building's renovation. The meeting is at 7:30 pm at Hine Junior High School's Multi-Purpose Room and Mayor Fenty, Council Member Tommy Wells, and City Administrator Dan Tangherlini will be there. (And if you want to read up on the the three plans currently under consideration, they are posted here.)
• A press release/newsletter from the Flea Market at Eastern Market this morning adds support to the proposal to build a temporary structure on the grounds of Hine Junior High School. (It also gives this site some love!)

  "A plan to relocate Eastern Market merchants displaced from the South Hall by the fire a week ago today to a temporary structure on the playground of the nearby Hine Junior High School was endorsed today by Tom Rall, manager of The Flea Market at Eastern Market, which has operated there on Sundays for 15 years."

• Little Isabella's piggy-bank donation and letter to the vendors is highlighted on DC Blogs this morning.
• Act for Love, "the largest matchmaking site for Democratic singles", is donating all net revenue between now and Wednesday to the CHCF fund.
• According to this blurb in yesterday's Post, the year-long project of the kindgergartners of Peabody will be featured in Thursday's Extra.
• Crowds still turn out in force for first post-fire Market Day, The Examiner
• Finally, don't forget tomorrow night's fundraiser organized by Eastern Market Rescue -- have a drink or a meal at the establishments listed, and part of the proceeds will go to the CHCF fund. In addition to participating in the the Eastern Market Rescue event at the downstairs bar, the Hawk 'n' Dove will be holding a targeted fundraiser at the upstairs bar from 6 to 9 pm. Proceeds -- including tips at the bar -- will go to the relief fund, and representatives of the CHCF will be on hand to accept donations. Spread the word at work today, and bring your friends tomorrow night!

While most coverage of the South Hall merchants has been focused on the families themselves, there are quite a few employees who either worked at the counters or behind the scenes to make Eastern Market such a great place. As a result of the fire, each of these people now faces the potential of a few months -- or more -- without a daily job, and while some of the merchants might be able to help their employees in some alternative capacity for a little while, it's likely that most of the employees are under financial or other pressure to find other jobs, jobs which they might not be able to leave to return to the Market when it reopens in some capacity.

With this in mind, Hill business owner Byron Buck has started an organization, the Eastern Market Employment Initiative, which aims to find temporary local employment for the displaced workers. Far from asking for charity, Buck's initiative is trying to connect Hill businesses which have needs with a pool of potential employees who are demonstrably motivated to make the neighborhood a better place, and is similarly trying to find parters which can assist in coordinating the initiative, providing space for training, and the like. They've released their general proposal for review by the community and local businesses, and Buck released a progress report yesterday which shows that they've received both support and encouragement from the offices of the Mayor and Councilman Wells, and that CHCF has committed to helping the initiative as well.

If you run a Hill business and are interested in at least opening up a conversation with Buck to see how you can help, drop him a line at EMEmploymentNetwork@earthlink.net.

This evening's major update is from the District's town hall meeting, which was hosted by Mayor Fenty, Councilman Tommy Wells, and City Manager Dan Tangherlini. There seemed to be way, way more people there than the organizers anticipated, so many more that Tangherlini quickly opened up another room and set up a parallel meeting. All in all, though, it was very well-organized, with a clear agenda and good information. The District handed out a color map of the three potential sites for the temporary building, the third version of the building plans, a few color images from the Sprung website of what that style of temporary buildings looks like, and a five-part questionnaire that was meant to guide the discussion. (The revision to the building plans included a new look for the temporary structure, which can be seen at the top of this post.) Everything started with Tangherlini sharing a few points worth noting, namely that the city feels it will be in a position to have final rebuilding plans in their hands in four to six months, that it doesn't intend to wait until that time to begin various parts of the process, and that the administration intends to do everything it can to complete the rebuild in less than the conservative 18- to 24-month timeframe. (In Tangherlini's words, “we understand that if they were able to build the Empire State Building and the new Nats stadium in less time than that, we should be able to rebuld the market in less as well.”) After this, he encouraged each group of people (the room was set up as a series of 10- to 12-person tables) to discuss the questionnaire and come either to a consensus or to a list of alternative views, and by the end, most of the room agreed that:

• the temporary structure should sit at the rear of the Hine Junior High school lot, rejecting the idea of putting it in the middle of Seventh Street or at the Metro plaza;
• the building should more or less provide what the merchants themselves say they need -- plumbing, electrical, refrigeration, cover, and trash disposal -- and beyond that, as little else as possible so that no excess effort is diverted from the ultimate goal, the restoration of the South Hall;
• during weekends, Seventh Street should be closed to traffic from C Street to North Carolina, both as a place for any displaced flea market vendors to set up and as a pedestrian area.

All in all, the meeting seemed to demonstrate the dedication of both the administration and the community to get quick consensus on the issues that need to be settled in order to get a temporary solution in place for the indoor merchants, to make a firm commitment to the continued well-being of the flea market vendors, and to get started on the restoration of the South Hall. There was very, very little contention in the room, and quite a bit of respect was paid to the opinions of the merchants and vendors, the people who have the most experience with what works and doesn't work at Eastern Market.

Beyond the town hall meeting, there were two other things to report in today's news:

• This morning, we received word about Dining Out for Eastern Market, an event being organized in which restaurants pledge a portion of their proceeds on May 21st to the CHCF relief fund. For now, there are five Hill restaurants participating, and the organizer is actively soliciting others. If you own a restaurant and are interested in being a part of the occasion, you'll want to get in touch with Diane Scott.
• DC resident Meghan posted a nice bit about stumbling upon last Thursday's tango event at the North Hall (the first event held at the Market since the fire); it's a great reminder of the way the Market always has had the ability to surprise people and draw them into its grasp.

See you all out tomorrow night, supporting the CHCF fund through drinks, food, and fun!

Unsurprisingly, there are a few news articles today related to last night's town hall meeting, and a few other links of note out there on the great big internet.

• The Post's District Briefing column has a short rundown of the town hall meeting, which includes a comment by Mayor Fenty that once a site for the temporary building is selected, he felt that it could be erected and running in six to eight weeks. The column ends with a promise that the District intends to read every single questionnaire that was filled out last night -- we don't envy the group of interns whose job it will be to decipher all the handwriting and aggregate the comments!
• The Washington Times has a more detailed summary of the meeting, as well; the nugget of gold in this article is that the DC Sports and Entertainment Commission has offered potential use of the DC Armory, next door to RFK Stadium, as a possible temporary site as well. It's something that wasn't raised at all at last night's meeting, though -- and with the fact that even the Eastern Market Metro plaza was nearly universally seen as being too far from the current Market site to be tenable as an interim home to the merchants and vendors, it seems unlikely that the city would think about a site as far away as the Armory.
• Post columnist Marc Fisher has another column up on Eastern Market, highlighting the success of this weekend's Market Day, the outpouring of support for the merchants and vendors, and tonight's Eastern Market Rescue bar and restaurant crawl in support of the CHCF relief fund. In the past week, Fisher has become quite an advocate for the rebuilding process.
• The Express gave a short blurb to the Eastern Market Rescue event tonight, as well; NBC4 also put in a few words to support the effort.
• Finally, the Post has a good article in the Metro section today revealing that the District will pick up the overtime tab for all the city officials who worked the Market Day festival this weekend -- a cost of nearly $5,000 that won't be borne by the Market and Friendship House (the community development and support organization which puts on Market Day every year).

As if we need to remind you: come out to Capitol Hill (or other participating bars and restaurants throughout the District) tonight, and let your food and drink dollars support the rebuilding effort!

We received word today that Thomas Calomiris and Sons -- the produce stand that has been operating inside the South Hall of Eastern Market for three generations -- was the first of the indoor merchants to reopen underneath the awning on Seventh Street today; word is that they will be keeping their normal Market hours at that location until the temporary structure is completed and open. That's good news, both for the Calomiris family and the community!

This seems as good a time as any to point out this downright amazing interview with Chris Calomiris, one of the "Sons" in "Thomas Calomiris and Sons". The interview was done as part of the Ruth Ann Overbeck Capitol Hill History Project, and it's literally full to the brim with history of the Calomiris family and the various markets they've operated out of over the years (including the Florida Avenue Market and the Central Market -- which was part of the Western, Central, and Eastern Market family of which Eastern Market is the sole survivior), and perspective on life in Capitol Hill through the years. It's well, well worth a read.

Happy Eastern Market Rescue night! By all accounts, the event Clay Johnson helped organize has been nothing short of a success tonight; we went to Hawk 'n' Dove earlier just as they announced that they had hit $2,500, we went to Sonoma and were impressed, and Clay's Twitter stream seems to indicate that every participating joint along Pennsylvania and Barracks Row is packed. That's simply awesome, and it'll be great to hear the final numbers that came out of the fundraiser later in the week.

In other news:

• The Hill ran a nice piece today about how the fire at the Market has brought out the best that Capitol Hill has to offer, and used everything from the Save Our Market mailing list to the T-shirt designs being sold to benefit the merchants as examples. But while the article started with this nice voicing of the goodwill that's come out of the Victorian brickwork on the Hill, the most interesting part of it is the explanation of the complicated relationship between the Market, the city, and the management company (Eastern Market Ventures). Shocking to learn is the fact that the EMV managers haven't spoken or even been seen in the District since the fire, and apparently, the merchants are now beginning to advocate for the removal of EMV from the equation entirely. It's all interesting, and it's the first real bit of politics that seems to be poking its head up into the rebuilding process.
• I'm not sure if I missed it before, or if it's really new, but the Post has quite a nice photo gallery up of shots from during the blaze and cleanup, and during this past weekend's reopened outdoor market. The first picture is the keeper, of the flames leaping out of the South Hall windows and licking the carved roofline. But the tenth picture is the most heartening to me -- you can see that all the great wood signs that hung above Bowers Fancy Dairy Products look to have survived!
• Apparently, by a totally random bit of fate, the Market 5 Gallery (the gallery in the North Hall of Eastern Market) is currently exhibiting artwork related to Eastern Market which was done by the kindergarten students of the School-Within-School at Peabody. The students spent the past year going through the Market in small groups, interviewing the merchants and observing the daily life, and their resulting artwork, “Encounter with Eastern Market,” was hung two days prior to the fire. In addition to the exhibit, the gallery will be selling cards printed from the artwork and donating part of the proceeds to the relief fund.
• Finally, we got a few nice mentions on the web today! The Capitol Hill Community Foundation is now recommending us for news about the fire and rebuilding process, which is honestly an honor given how much work they've been doing to get things moving and help secure a semblance of stability for the indoor merchants. We also got a plug from Capitol Hill Bar Review and another from the 14th Street Girl. Thanks, guys!

(And as truly a final thought, we just wanted to send thanks out to everyone who's taken the time to drop us a note with information -- we're getting great news, important clarifications, and timely notices of events, all of which makes this site a more valuable resource for the community! If you've got anything you want to share, all you've got to do is click the “Contact Us” link in the lefthand sidebar.)

It's a little bit of a slow morning, both in the news and in my brain (a few drinks for the Market cause last night will do that!).

• In the context of an article about shifting public safety money to other areas in the District, the Post reports that the FY2007 budget surplus has now been certified at $19.2 million, and that there's a projected FY2008 surplus of over $60 million. This is the money that Mayor Fenty committed, in part, to the rebuilding of the Market, so that's encouraging news indeed.
• According to this ABC7 report on last night's Eastern Market Rescue, the CHCF relief fund is now at $170,000 -- and that's prior to the donations from last night.
• The DC government has set up an email inbox dedicated to ideas that people might have about the rebuilding and restoring the Market -- send your thoughts to restoringeasternmarket@dc.gov.

Sorry for the late update tonight -- we spent the evening at the Eastern Market Community Advisory Committee meeting. I'll have a full update from that meeting sometime tomorrow, but figured I'd at least get out there that Nicky Cymrot (the president of CHCF) let us know that the organization's Eastern Market relief fund is now at $200,000, and again, that's prior to any donations from last night's Eastern Market Rescue event. I also got word from one of the organizers of last night's Hawk 'n' Dove fundraiser, and the unofficial tally from that event is over $7,000.

Now, for the day's news:

• Rumor has it that the Canales family has moved at least some of their deli meat and prepared food products into their storefront restaurant across the street, Tortilla Cafe -- Jose Canales (the owner of the restaurant and the deli stand in the Market) told us this was going to happen soon, so if it's true that it's already a reality, that's great news. I'll check it out tomorrow!
• The Maryland Gazette had a nice article today detailing the involvement of the Glasgow family in the operations of Eastern Market over the years. From their entry into the market in the 1940s to Charles Glasgow's creation of the Eastern Market Corporation in the 1950s to their management of four different merchant stalls today, the Glasgows have been a part of the Market for more than half a century, and are hoping to weather this storm with the help of the community.
• DCist wrote up a fairly comprehensive summary of Monday night's town hall meeting, as did Roll Call (although the latter is locked behind a subscriber-only wall -- does anyone have a copy of the article that I can read?).
• ANC 6B (the Advisory Neighborhood Committee for the District region which includes Eastern Market) has appointed Ken Jarboe to chair, and Mary Wright to vice-chair, a new committee which will manage meetings with the community and all the ANC input into the Market rebuilding process.

• We heard yesterday about a new fundraising event! Julie Miezan of Capitol Hill Yoga sent us an e-mail:

  "I wanted to let you know that Leyla Kenny, co-owner and instructor, is holding a yoga class fundraiser at Capitol Hill Yoga to benefit the merchants of Eastern Market this Sunday, May 13 from 12:30-1:30pm. On a donation basis - give what you feel - 100% of donations will go to the Capitol Hill Community Foundation fund. All are welcome - open to all levels including beginners."

  We added the event to the calendar linked on the left -- thanks, Julie!
• An article about new fire chief Dennis Rubin in today's Washington Post focuses on his response to the fires at Eastern Market and Georgetown library to describe his leadership style.
• Get the Kleenex ready: the article about the neighborhood kindergarden class' year-long project on Eastern Market is featured in today's Washington Post.

  The kindergartners at School-Within-School at Peabody had spent the academic year documenting the world of Eastern Market -- measuring its height with a Cookie Monster balloon, learning about its cornices, even finding out that chicken legs make good paintbrushes.

  So, when word of the devastating fire spread among Capitol Hill's post-sippy-cup set, the Peabody children worried about their friends: Melvin the Chicken Man, Mr. Canales the Meat Man, Jack the Cheese Man and others.

As Jason mentioned in last night's news and links post, we spent yesterday evening at the special Eastern Market Community Action Committee (EMCAC) meeting. It was a fascinating evening and there was a lot going on -- so much so that we're putting together a separate post on it for later this morning or early this afternoon. Stay tuned!