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.â€) 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!