Save Eastern Market

• 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!