Save Eastern Market

Howdy, everybody -- I was (barely!) able to get back to Capitol Hill tonight in time to go to the school meeting at Hine Junior High, and there was definitely some interesting info that came out of the session. Here's the recap.

The meeting was hosted by Willie Jackson, the principal of Hine, and both William Wilhoyte (Region II Superintendent of DC Public Schools) and Lisa Raymond (school board rep for Wards 5 & 6) had a chance to present the current status of plans regarding the temporary market building that'll sit on the Hine lot. Turnout was scant -- about two dozen people attended, comprised of a mixture of students, parents, teachers, staff, and interested parties.

Raymond spoke first, and reiterated something we've mentioned here before -- one issue that DCPS has been faced with over the past week has been coming up with a fair renegotiation of the lease it holds with the organizations that put on the Saturday and Sunday flea markets, since the current lease promises them space which includes the location of the temporary building. She stated, though, that all parties are now in verbal agreement on a new arrangement, and that it's making its way through the final stages of becoming official. In addition, though, Raymond stressed that DCPS is pursuing a second formal legal agreement with the city itself which will make specific demands about such things as the fence providing security between the new building and the Hine grounds, the need for additional security resources (like guards and audits), and the promise that the entirety of the Market renovation plans place no additional financial burdens on the shoulders of Hine or DCPS. She is also pursuing additional resources for Hine (such as extra funds) which can be put into school programming. Finally, she said that as soon as all parties formalize their agreements, construction on the temporary building can commence and will take between two and three weeks to complete.

After this, Jackson spoke about concerns that have been raised in his meetings and conversations with people at Hine over the past week and a half, concerns that ranged from the safety and security of everyone on school grounds to the need to come up with a new fire evacuation plan (given that the current one has all the students and staff assembling in the area that will soon be occupied by the new building). Then, Wilhoyte addressed many of these concerns, and stated that he will specifically be asking that a school safety and security audit immediately take place so that DCPS can determine where additional security officers are needed, what exact mechanisms will be in place to prevent Market traffic from accessing school grounds, and how all the pre-existing plans (like fire safety) need to be changed to reflect the new situation. He also stated that he's using this opportunity to try to ask for a rethinking of Hine's fate; as most people know, the current Master Plan has Hine closing after the 2007-2008 academic year, and Wilhoyte will ask that this decision be put back on the table. Last, in terms of general Market planning, Wilhoyte said that there have been no final decisions about what to do with Seventh Street on weekends nor has there been a final determination made about where weekend vendors who might have been on the site of the temporary building would be relocated, but that both of these questions are expected to be answered by the end of this week.

At the end, they took questions from everyone who attended the meeting, questions which mostly expressed further concerns about safety, with interference with normal day-to-day school function, and with the potential for decreased opportunities for students to get physical activity. There were a few interesting bits of info that came out of the answers to the questions:

• the fence between the temporary building site and the school grounds is planned to be completed by this coming Friday;
• the construction company (Turner Construction) intends to have the new building up and ready for occupancy by 21 days from tomorrow (so by June 6th, if I have my dates right);
• the construction on the new building will almost certainly take place every day of the week, including Saturdays and Sundays;
• DCPS is actively looking for the Mayor's office to appoint a single person who will be able to address any and all concerns that might be raised by the Hine staff and student body over the coming 18 to 24 months.

The biggest issue which wasn't addressed was which type of building will go up... I'm already trying to get the answer to that one, and will followup if and when I get an answer!