Eastern Market reopening tomorrow

Eastern Market at night
Originally uploaded by rllayman

DC's Eastern Market public market burned in April 2007 and had to be closed. Fortunately, plans had been underway for some time to undertake a major renovation and money had been set aside for this already. So that money was available to undertake and pay for most of the cost of the post-fire renovation. (Which is why I don't think of Mayor Fenty as the Market's saviour, although I do appreciate all the extraordinary efforts of so many people, in and out of government, who have made the reopening possible.)

Already there has been a fair amount of press coverage of the opening, including this article from the Post, "A Market That's Up: Fire-Ravaged Landmark Of Capitol Hill Was 'Crying for Help.' With Reconstruction, It's Ready to Welcome Customers Old and New." and a portion of yesterday's WAMU radio's Kojo Nnamdi Show, "Eastern Market and D.C.'s Food Culture."

The Market reopens tomorrow with a ribbon cutting at 10:30 am, and there will be all-day festivities on Saturday, including frequent tours.

There is still a lot of unrest on the part of merchants and others in the community over whether or not to continue to close 7th Street between C Street SE and North Carolina Avenue SE on the weekends.

There will be a public meeting about this on Tuesday July 7th at 6:30 PM at Tyler Elementary School at 10th and G Streets SE and I hope phalanxes of public space and placemaking advocates come out in force to that meeting.

And it will take awhile for all the bits and pieces of the final renovation work to be finished, ranging from installing bicycle racks to parking meters to striping parking spaces and so forth.

Still there is a lot to be done. Just as the terrible subway train crash calls our attention to the need to address how the local transit system is managed, led, and funded, the reopening of the public market Eastern Market building needs to be thought of as a midpoint, not an end point, and management and operations and planning for Eastern Market and the area around it must continue to be addressed and reconciled.

(Disclosure: I am on the Eastern Market Community Advisory Committee, which has advisory-oversight responsibilities for the Market.)