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Articles
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| H Street heritage trail in the works |
VOICE writes, "H Street heritage trail in the works
BY HANNAH REXROTH
Residents and businesses of the H Street, NE, community hope to soon have their very own Heritage Trail to show off to locals and visitors alike, following in the lead of areas such as U Street, Adams Morgan and Barracks Row.
"H Street was a vibrant commercial corridor and the go-to place in D.C. until it was scarred by the riots in '68," said business developer Thomas Gallo, who provides assistance to businesses along the corridor. "There's still a lot there, it just needs to be discovered." "
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The trail would contain 17 to 20 signs marking unique places, people or events associated with the street's long history, and could extend east from Union Station to the Starburst intersection, and as far north as Florida Avenue.
Derek Dyson, a member of H Street Main Street board of directors, is eager to see a Heritage Trail find a home on H Street, NE. "I think the Heritage Trail that has been expanding in the city is an excellent thing," Dyson said. "To incorporate H Street into that would be great."
The trail's contents will be determined by a working group made up of people from the community and will cover both the good and the bad times of the area. "We don't shy away from the bad times," said Jane Levey, chief program officer and historian with Cultural Tourism DC, which develops the city's heritage trails. "We're not afraid of talking about race relations or about segregation."
The first H Street trail meeting was held Sept. 19 at the Atlas Theater. Community members gave ideas of places, people and events to be mentioned on the signs, including: Gallaudet University, Malcolm X, the 1968 riots and the Jewish community.
Funding for the trails comes from Federal Highway Administration and the D.C. government, so transportation will also be a subject included on the signs.
The corridor is scheduled for a massive streetscape project, which will begin sometime at the end of 2007. Some of the scheduled upgrades include new sidewalks, trash cans, lighting and trees.
Derrick Woody, coordinator of the city's Great Streets Project, said that there will be some coordination between the streetscape and the Heritage Trail project. "We don't want to have the Heritage Trail signs put in before we go in and tear up the sidewalks."
The start and completion dates of the streetscape project remain unknown. Levey said planning for the Heritage Trail will continue to move ahead regardless of the project's progress. "We don't wait," Levey said. "We put the signs in when they're ready. But I suspect by the time the signs are ready, the area will also be ready."
Neighborhood Heritage Trails, which already has seven trails throughout the city and expects to eventually have 17, was founded in the late 1990s. Levey said the goals in organizing the foundation were twofold.
"We were frustrated because tourists would come, visit the museums, visit the monuments, eat a hotdog from a street vendor and leave. They were missing some of the most fascinating parts of our history, and they weren't putting any money into the neighborhoods. We wanted to bring them into the neighborhoods, but we also wanted to build community pride and leave something to future generations."
Getting the trail from a simple idea to tangible signs on the sidewalk is a complicated process that takes approximately 18 months. For the first six months, Levey meets monthly with a working group of people from the community. "It's a neighborhood thing," Levey said. "They have to tell us their stories, they have to own it." The working group shares stories and photographs, and decides what should be out there and where it should be.
An application is then sent to an advisory committee, and, if approved, a historian is hired and given four months to write a draft of the signs.
The draft then goes back to the working group for another six months, and is finally edited by Levey before going on to the designer. "After it goes to the designer, it's time to have a party," Levey said.
The H Street trail is just an idea at this point, and will only get off the ground with more help from community members.
Gallo said, "It's not going to happen until we have a strong base for it. We need a lot of serious and committed community support for this sort of thing."
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Next H Street Heritage Trail meeting begins at 7 p.m. on Oct. 30 at the Atlas Theater, 1333 H St., NE. For more information, contact Jane Levey at (202) 661.7581 or jlevey@culturaltourismdc.org.
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Posted on Sep 26, 2007 21:25pm.
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