A look at what's going on in Trinidad, on H Street, and in the larger area north of Capitol Hill.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
DCist: Capital City Market Revamp?
Check out the reader reaction to the news here. DCist has promised to keep its readers (who are apparently not so down with the Orange/Choi/Ray plan) up to date on the issue.
14 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Inked, is there anything we as northeast residents can do? I live south of H but love the farmer's market and Literi's and would hate to see that turned into some generic Gap-infested place. Should I contact my new Ward 6 representative? At-large city council members? Not being an activist and more of a lurker, I feel clueless. To city council members, renovate, yes, but don't destroy the unique nature of the place.
Lou, here's what you can do: 1. talk to your counsel member (the new members will get a shot at this one). 2. Call/write at large counsel memkbers Carol Schwartz and David Catania (being the honorable guy that he is, he hasn't signed onto this New Town plan). 3. attend meetings on the topic and express your opinion. There may be meetings in your area if you live near the market. A citywide public meeting is a public meeting, and you can bet that some of the people bussed in by supporters of New Town don't live in the neighborhood. 4. If you live in Wards 5, or 6 (especially if you live close to the market) tell your ANC commissioner how you feel (go to an ANC meeting). Boosters of New Town are claiming they've got lots of ANC support, and that isn't exactly true. They've got some support, but other commissioners (including the one for the SMD in which the Market lies) have testified against the proposal as currently laid out. 5. Talk to friends and neighbors about the issue (particularly if you live near the market). Make sure they know about the plan & make sure you stress that it is not a matter of building New Town, or leaving things as they are. The Office of Planning released (not too long ago) a rough plan that called for sensitively redeveloping the market without displacing the existing vendors, or demolishing historic structures. Look at countless examples of successful public markets in other cities. Such places can successfully serve wholesale interests, the needs of community residents, and also be tourist attractions, all while providing valuable jobs for DC residents. The Market's proximity to the metro makes it ideal for this purpose.
I just emailed both of them. It wasn't a long email, but I told them I thought it was a very bad idea.
I feel lucky that you are my ANC rep (or whatever your position is), inked, as I know you will make known the distaste for plan that is felt by Trinidad residents. Thanks so much for taking on that burden!
That's interesting...are ANC reps supposed to have regular meetings? It would be good to find out what ours is doing and where s/he stands on various issues.
I'm not sure if it all the ANCs have the same website address convention, but ANC 6c & 6a each have websites: www.anc6c.org www.anc6a.org
ANCs are required to have a minimum number of meetings each year (I think 10; ANC 6c has 11). There are also public meetings of each ANC's Committes (for example, Zoning & Planning, Licensing, etc.)
Best, Alan Kimber Commissioner-Elect, ANC6c05 (c) 202-390-0235
My reference was to the ANC wide meetings (e.g. ANC5B). They hold ten monthly meetings a year (vacation in summer). Some ANC commissioners have single member district meetings as well, but these are not required. Lots on ANCs don't have websites.
I think that maybe this development will be a good thing. Most of those shops are pretty run down and I think some of the food shops are fairly unhygienic. I know that the hip thing is to fight corporate development but I don't think that the proposal is going to attract the Gap crowd here.
What about doing some outreach at the market itself?
Here are some ideas: * talk to business owners at the market about hanging up signs and educating their customers about this bad proposal. * hand out flyers at the market with: 1. description of the problem, 2. city council phone numbers and 3. a very brief phone script for the callers.
If anybody's interested in this, then we'd have to get together somewhere (Sidamo Coffee?) and plan it out.
The meeting agenda could include: * Define the problem. * Defining what we want: to change the current proposal or completely get rid of it? * Agree on activities: i.e., leaflet distribution. * Task out jobs: who makes leaflet, who makes copies, who distributes it, who reaches out to business owners.
i agree that this might be a good thing. it just needs to be managed correctly. you can't stop progress, even though it's hip to want fight the big corporations.
it's not like those folks are being beaten and kicked in the ribs. it might actually turn out better for them.....
This isn't about fighting big corporations for me. It's about several things, including that: 1.I think the vendors are unlikely to return to the site. 2. the market could be much more valuable to the city and community as a a functional market that could also bring tourists to the area (if cleaned up and marketed properly). Look at the Italian Market in Philadelphia as a good example of how this can work. Why tear down something unique just to build something generic. You migh want to take a look at what Choi & the city built the last time they did this in the Florida Market area. It happened in the mid-1980s and it isn't pretty.
I live one block from the Farmers Market and this Market Revamp will be the best thing for this community. The current market has been run down and rat infested for years now. I'm surprised that it hasn't been shut down sooner for unsanitary conditions. Also, evening crime is rampant. This community needs and deserve a revamp and this is the majority opinion of all of us who live literally next door to the market.
I get different things from different people. Plenty of people who live withing only a few blocks of the market have expressed an opposite opinion to me. Of course, we're all free to disagree. The important thing is that everybody is informed on the issue and able to get their voice heard if they wish to do so.
Regarding the crime, the Market is in my PSA and I asked the Lt. about crime in the Market area when I saw her on Saturday. My question arose because the New Town bill makes it sound as if crime in the Maarket is on the increase (it also makes it seem like vagarncy is on the increase). The Lt. felt that neither was accurate. In the longterm there has been a decrease in crime (I forgot to ask about a longterm change in vagrancy). In the short term (past year), crime has generally held fairly steady in the area (as has vagrancy). I can say the numbers on my maps that I get at the meetings don't seem particularly high for the Market. The Lt. also said that most crime in the area was unrelated to vagrancy and that it was mostly seemed to be associated with events at various establishments (recall the discharge of bullets recently following a go-go show at the Market Lounge), but the establishment with which trouble is associated keeps changing because (partly because it is an issue of certain individuals targeting people). If you want to talkabout rampant crime, you should head up to Ivy City.
14 comments:
Inked, is there anything we as northeast residents can do?
I live south of H but love the farmer's market and Literi's and would hate to see that turned into some generic Gap-infested place. Should I contact my new Ward 6 representative? At-large city council members? Not being an activist and more of a lurker, I feel clueless.
To city council members, renovate, yes, but don't destroy the unique nature of the place.
Lou, here's what you can do:
1. talk to your counsel member (the new members will get a shot at this one).
2. Call/write at large counsel memkbers Carol Schwartz and David Catania (being the honorable guy that he is, he hasn't signed onto this New Town plan).
3. attend meetings on the topic and express your opinion. There may be meetings in your area if you live near the market. A citywide public meeting is a public meeting, and you can bet that some of the people bussed in by supporters of New Town don't live in the neighborhood.
4. If you live in Wards 5, or 6 (especially if you live close to the market) tell your ANC commissioner how you feel (go to an ANC meeting). Boosters of New Town are claiming they've got lots of ANC support, and that isn't exactly true. They've got some support, but other commissioners (including the one for the SMD in which the Market lies) have testified against the proposal as currently laid out.
5. Talk to friends and neighbors about the issue (particularly if you live near the market). Make sure they know about the plan & make sure you stress that it is not a matter of building New Town, or leaving things as they are. The Office of Planning released (not too long ago) a rough plan that called for sensitively redeveloping the market without displacing the existing vendors, or demolishing historic structures. Look at countless examples of successful public markets in other cities. Such places can successfully serve wholesale interests, the needs of community residents, and also be tourist attractions, all while providing valuable jobs for DC residents. The Market's proximity to the metro makes it ideal for this purpose.
I just emailed both of them. It wasn't a long email, but I told them I thought it was a very bad idea.
I feel lucky that you are my ANC rep (or whatever your position is), inked, as I know you will make known the distaste for plan that is felt by Trinidad residents. Thanks so much for taking on that burden!
That's interesting...are ANC reps supposed to have regular meetings? It would be good to find out what ours is doing and where s/he stands on various issues.
Rob,
I'm not sure if it all the ANCs have the same website address convention, but ANC 6c & 6a each have websites:
www.anc6c.org
www.anc6a.org
ANCs are required to have a minimum number of meetings each year (I think 10; ANC 6c has 11). There are also public meetings of each ANC's Committes (for example, Zoning & Planning, Licensing, etc.)
Best,
Alan Kimber
Commissioner-Elect, ANC6c05
(c) 202-390-0235
My reference was to the ANC wide meetings (e.g. ANC5B). They hold ten monthly meetings a year (vacation in summer). Some ANC commissioners have single member district meetings as well, but these are not required. Lots on ANCs don't have websites.
Also, not every ANC has committees.
Ya know,
I think that maybe this development will be a good thing. Most of those shops are pretty run down and I think some of the food shops are fairly unhygienic. I know that the hip thing is to fight corporate development but I don't think that the proposal is going to attract the Gap crowd here.
What about doing some outreach at the market itself?
Here are some ideas:
* talk to business owners at the market about hanging up signs and educating their customers about this bad proposal.
* hand out flyers at the market with: 1. description of the problem, 2. city council phone numbers and 3. a very brief phone script for the callers.
If anybody's interested in this, then we'd have to get together somewhere (Sidamo Coffee?) and plan it out.
The meeting agenda could include:
* Define the problem.
* Defining what we want: to change the current proposal or completely get rid of it?
* Agree on activities: i.e., leaflet distribution.
* Task out jobs: who makes leaflet, who makes copies, who distributes it, who reaches out to business owners.
i agree that this might be a good thing. it just needs to be managed correctly. you can't stop progress, even though it's hip to want fight the big corporations.
it's not like those folks are being beaten and kicked in the ribs. it might actually turn out better for them.....
This isn't about fighting big corporations for me. It's about several things, including that:
1.I think the vendors are unlikely to return to the site.
2. the market could be much more valuable to the city and community as a a functional market that could also bring tourists to the area (if cleaned up and marketed properly). Look at the Italian Market in Philadelphia as a good example of how this can work. Why tear down something unique just to build something generic. You migh want to take a look at what Choi & the city built the last time they did this in the Florida Market area. It happened in the mid-1980s and it isn't pretty.
I live one block from the Farmers Market and this Market Revamp will be the best thing for this community. The current market has been run down and rat infested for years now. I'm surprised that it hasn't been shut down sooner for unsanitary conditions. Also, evening crime is rampant. This community needs and deserve a revamp and this is the majority opinion of all of us who live literally next door to the market.
I get different things from different people. Plenty of people who live withing only a few blocks of the market have expressed an opposite opinion to me. Of course, we're all free to disagree. The important thing is that everybody is informed on the issue and able to get their voice heard if they wish to do so.
Regarding the crime, the Market is in my PSA and I asked the Lt. about crime in the Market area when I saw her on Saturday. My question arose because the New Town bill makes it sound as if crime in the Maarket is on the increase (it also makes it seem like vagarncy is on the increase). The Lt. felt that neither was accurate. In the longterm there has been a decrease in crime (I forgot to ask about a longterm change in vagrancy). In the short term (past year), crime has generally held fairly steady in the area (as has vagrancy). I can say the numbers on my maps that I get at the meetings don't seem particularly high for the Market. The Lt. also said that most crime in the area was unrelated to vagrancy and that it was mostly seemed to be associated with events at various establishments (recall the discharge of bullets recently following a go-go show at the Market Lounge), but the establishment with which trouble is associated keeps changing because (partly because it is an issue of certain individuals targeting people). If you want to talkabout rampant crime, you should head up to Ivy City.
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