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Articles
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| Eastern Market ranks in top 10 of U.S. neighborhoods |
VOICE writes, "BY BEN WEINSTEIN
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The American Planning Association named Capitol Hill’s Eastern Market area one of the country’s top 10 neighborhoods.
The Great Neighborhoods program recognized Eastern Market for its well-planned streets and buildings, commitment to historic preservation, access to public transportation and excellent shopping and restaurants. The award also recognized Eastern Market residents for their role in neighborhood planning.
“The fire at this historic building just gave this whole city, this whole region, a chance to see the fabric of this neighborhood,” Mayor Adrian Fenty said last week at a ceremony next to the market building. “I think the people around here thought this was a top 10 neighborhood for a long time.” "
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The mayor also highlighted the neighborhood’s shops, schools and restaurants, pointing out that it’s well positioned near RFK stadium, the Nationals’ new baseball stadium and the waterfront. “Eastern Market is one of the best neighborhoods in America.”
In a statement on the award, the planning association praised the neighborhood for maintaining its “unpretentious, charming nature for more than 200 years. As a result of its original design and the community’s commitment to local preservation, the area has weathered many political and economic storms to emerge today as a thriving residential community with a strong sense of its history as well as its future.”
Planning association President Robert Hunter said Eastern Market was the first neighborhood selected for the award. “Eastern Market met all the criteria,” he said, praising the work of city leadership, planners and residents who help make “great, great places happen. ... That’s certainly what you have done.”
Jeff Davis, Ward 6 coordinator for the Office of Planning, nominated Eastern Market for the award less than two months after fire destroyed the market’s South Hall in April. He said community involvement in planning issues helped Eastern Market earn the distinction.
“Planners can learn to listen to residents who’ve lived [in their neighborhoods] for years,” Davis said, adding that the neighborhood won the award, in part, because of the civic and nonprofit groups that participate in shaping the bustling modern community integrated with the city’s historic plan.
Davis said what makes Eastern Market a great place to live and visit is its infrastructure, history and the efforts to preserve it. He called the architecture “quite distinct and very well-preserved,” and said there’s a “nice natural mix of housing types.” He also said it’s a great neighborhood because “it’s so easy to get around,” either on foot, bus or by Metro train.
Eastern Market is not a distinct district with clear street boundaries — it may be considered more a section of Capitol Hill than its own neighborhood. But the market itself is arguably as unifying a neighborhood landmark as any other in the city.
Accordingly, rallying around the displaced South Hall merchants, quickly erecting the temporary structure and pushing the rebuilding and restoration of the historic market were important considerations for the planning association.
“The market serves a diverse and broad cross section of people, promotes community involvement, and operates as a hub for social activity,” the planning association said in its release, underscoring the community’s history of civic activism surrounding the market. The organization also extolled the Barracks Row Main Street program for revitalizing Eighth Street, SE.
Ward 6 Councilman Tommy Wells credited a “dynamic mayor” with getting the market back up and running and moving the rebuilding ahead, and he also praised residents for their energetic response to the fire. “We knew this is a special place.”
Eastern Market Community Advisory Committee chair Donna Scheeder said, “There is a small-town spirit only blocks from our nation’s Capitol [building].”
The nine other 2007 Great Neighborhoods are:
• Chatham Village, Pittsburgh
• Elmwood Village, Buffalo, N.Y.
• First Addition, Lake Oswego, Ore.
• Hillcrest, San Diego
• North Beach, San Francisco
• Old West Austin, Austin, Texas
• Park Slope, Brooklyn, N.Y.
• Pike Place Market, Seattle
• West Urbana, Urbana, Ill.
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Posted on Dec 14, 2007 17:48pm.
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