Things are moving along very swiftly at Eastern Market. At noon today, Councilmember Wells and Mayor Fenty will be groundbreaking the temporary structure on the site of Hine Jr. High.

At numerous meetings held by Councilmember Wells and government officials since the terrible fire, all interested and affected people have had the opportunity to discuss their concerns and desires.  The community at large was heard, the merchants and their employees have been heard, the vendors have been heard and the Hine, Jr. High community has been heard.  The community overwhelmingly supported a plan to keep the merchants’ temporary location as close to the permanent market as possible and to quickly get the merchants up and running.  The outpouring of support for merchants has been phenomenal.  The Capitol Hill Community Foundation with its “Our Market More Than a Building” fund has received over $220,000 in contributions to be directed toward support for the merchants and their employees until they are securely ensconced in their old, but newly refurbished, permanent location.  It seems at times that all eyes and concern are directed only toward the welfare of the merchants.

But that is not all there is to the market story.  As has been stated repeatedly by many residents and city officials, there will be sacrifices.  We will all have to make them.  Some of us have already been sacrificing.  When we couldn’t get our chicken from Melvin and had settle for second best, or when we had to go across town to get Andalusian sausage because the we couldn’t get it at the Market. There are many of these stories out there.  We have all become accustomed to making our regular purchases from the Market and knowing just which merchant would have the best quality, the exact cut or the unusual vegetable.   But there are going to be even greater sacrifices to be made and they will come mostly from the neighbors living closest to the site of the temporary market at Hine, Jr. High and the students who will lose most of their outdoor play area.

I was at (yes another) Eastern Market meeting Wednesday night where residents closest to the new site gathered to be heard as they shared their own desires and concerns.  Many of the same concerns reported at other forums were echoed last night including: worries about traffic, trash, rats, noise, smells and safety.  But last night when they raised these same issues, it was very personal to these residents.  These folks are the ones who will suffer the most from the traffic, trash, noise, smells, rats and insecurities about safety.  Councilmember Wells assembled a cadre of pertinent government officials to respond to each of the issues raised and many of the concerns were assuaged by promises from officials to keep the local residents in mind as they move forward to find solutions.  Another comfort came in the form of the identification of a neighborhood point of contact who will see to it that government is held to its promises. For the rest of us who don’t live next door to the new site, we should be mindful that we don’t add to the commotion. We can do our part in simple ways by not dropping litter, keeping our own noise levels low paying attention to pedestrians as we drive down 8th Street  and being patient and kind to one another as we all try to get through a tough time together. 

On April 11, 2007, I started working for the Committee on Human Services as a Consultant.  Little did I know, how my life would change.  After having worked for Child & Family Services  (13 years) as a clerk-typist and the Consortium for Child Welfare (11 years), I love what I did, but still there was something missing.

Although my jobs gave me the opportunity to do work that will help impact people’s lives, I wanted to do more.  Seeing the struggles that many child welfare agencies face, such as not being able to keep licensed social workers, not enough funding for some of their present programs or to implement new programs, etc., has given me the knowledge the Committee needs to know in helping to make their budget recommendations. Knowing exactly where the money needs to go in order to be of the greatest benefit is the best gift we could give the child welfare community.  They deserve it.  

Also, my job at the Council has allowed me to help gather other information that Councilman Wells needed for the CFSA budget hearing (I was sitting beside him on the podium at the hearing).  What a high!  I was able to get other child welfare workers to testify at the hearing, among them, a social worker who had never done it before (she was amazing).  I look forward to doing this again and to providing other opportunities to child welfare workers.

My job also includes handling some constituent issues.  I am so thankful for this part of my job because it helps me to be able to help educate and empower the community as well as allows me to receive a good education in areas that I know little about such as homelessness.  Having had a constituent to come in who is homeless, trying to find a job while making sure that he has a bed for the night, needed a little extra help in understanding the process his social worker has to follow in order to find him stable housing is gut-wrenching.  While doing my research on the homeless I have found that there are many programs available to them, but they need to have a referral.  I am still in pre-school when it comes to the homeless issues, there is a lot of great work going on, but from what I have learned so far, that there is still a lot of work to be done.  A lot of these programs have waiting list, and the shelter hotline that I called on last week (I left a voice mail because no one answered the phone) still has not returned my call.  If anyone from the shelter hotline is reading this blog, I am sitting at my desk right now waiting for your call.  

I love working for the Committee on Human Services.  To work in an office where everyone is there because they want to uplift and empower the community, helps us all to connect as being a part of the human family.

This morning, Councilmember Wells and staff hosted his monthly H Street, NE Community Office Hours at the H Street Playhouse. Many thanks to Adele Robey for opening up the space for the community. The topics of conversation largely focused on abandoned and vacant property and strengthening the corridor to support the small businesses.

To address the vacant and abandoned properties, Tommy is partnering with ANC 6C and 6A to create a task force dedicated to tackling the vacant properties along the H Street corridor, as well as both ANCs, and moving those properties to be taxed at five times the normal rate to stop speculation and dereliction, and encourage the owners to either move on their plans, or sell to someone who will.

We also took a stroll around the corner to 1400 Maryland Ave, NE. Commissioner Bill Schultheiss had brought the property to our attention. We found about 10 school-age children hiding behind the building smoking and hanging out before heading to school. When we approached them, the kids moved along and headed toward class. We also found 2 abandoned vehicles and a lot of illegal dumping, all of which we notified to DPW for removal and follow-up.

At the property (an abandoned former used car dealership), it appears to include a large public lot that could become metered parking for the H Street Arts and  Entertainment District. Especially with the streetscape worked planned to take place beginning this summer, we need to find additional and safe parking for patrons. Working with Commissioner Schultheiss, Tommy will be requesting DDOT to evaluate the lot to convert into a temporary metered parking lot during the streetscape work. We'll need to work through a few details such as providing access to the private property for that owner and also looking at how the property could be made more pedestrian friendly once the streetscape work is completed, but we will work with the community and ANC 6A to see what can be done on a temporary basis to help the businesses and patrons along H Street (and also remove a dumping ground in the neighborhood for residents).

Washington Post columnist Marc Fisher took a swipe this morning at Sen. Ben Cardin for holding up the Fenty Administration's school reform effort and blocking progress at the Oak Hill juvenile detention facility because he wants the land it sits on to be given back to Maryland.  The federal government granted control of the 880-acres in Anne Arundel County where Oak Hill is situated to the Disrict of Columbia in 1923.  The Oak Hill facility itself takes up 25 acres of that land, and the DC Government is on the verge of breaking ground on a new juvenile detention facility adjacent to the old one that will completely modernize the District's juvenile detention system.  The new facility will be smaller and more oriented toward rehabilitation than the old correctional model.  Now Senator Cardin evidently wants those efforts stopped dead in their tracks, or moved to some unspecified location back in the District.  We would like to know how you feel about Senator Cardin's priorities.  Let our staff on the Human Services Committee know how you feel. Leave your comments on our blog, or send us an email at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Tommy will collect the comments and pass them along to Senator Cardin's office.