View of the 200 block of 7th Street, SE, between Pennsylvania Avenue and North Carolina Avenue, SE
Should Eastern Market’s 7th St. Stay Closed Weekends? Special Meeting Saturday to Hear From Public
By Larry Janezich
The Executive Committee of the Eastern Market Community Advisory Committee (EMCAC) will hold a special meeting on Saturday August 12, to discuss whether 7th Street between Pennsylvania Avenue S.E. and North Carolina Avenue, S.E., especially the portion between PA Ave and C Street, S.E, should remain closed to traffic on weekends after the Saturday and Sunday flea markets move to their new location on C Street between the Hine Project’s North and South Buildings on September 31.
Members of the public who want their voices heard can attend the meeting on Saturday, at 3:00pm in the Coldwell Banker training room. Coldwell Banker is located at 605 Pennsylvania Avenue, S.E.
For those who cannot attend the meeting, please respond email EMCAC Chair Donna Scheeder with your comments at donna_scheeder@comcast.net
CAPITOL HILL CORNER 
EMCAC Executive Committee scheduled this public meeting at time when all the Eastern Market vendors will not be able to attend. Late afternoon on a weekend is absolutely impossible and in effect exclusionary. Email is not the same dynamic.
It is very hard to imagine that the training room at Caldwell Banker training room is booked up a little later when the Market is closed. I doubt that the Executive Committee’s pretext will acceptable to anyone, and I doubt their conclusion will be any better.
Why not keep the status quo for a probationary month or 2 and see how it works out? People will probably like the closed off street and it’ll be family-friendly. I hope we’re primarily listening to residents and not non-resident business interests.
This seems like a no-brainer to me. The closing of 7th St has created a very nice visual link-up across the metro plaza of the market and Barracks Row on weekends. Add to that the fact that it creates a sense of place and a generally more pleasant atmosphere to peruse the businesses on 7th St, and I can’t see how a dozen or so additional parking spaces would be worth the loss of vibrancy.
We the following South Hall Merchants, Farmers, and Food Sellers of the Eastern Market are opposed to the weekend closure of 7th Street between North Carolina Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue. The road closure has created a real accessibility issue that has had a negative effect on our fresh food sales, is problematic for our farmers, and of great concern to all of us in regards to the long-term viability of the fresh food Market.
We recommend 7th Street be re-opened one-way south bound. The new configuration will save resources, solve many of the Markets access/egress issues, and provide a safer and more enjoyable shopping experience for all visitors, especially those with disabilities.
Thank you,
Blue Iris Flowers Bowers Fancy Dairy Products,
Canales Quality Meats Capitol Hill Poultry
Eastern Market Grocery Fine Sweet Shoppe,
Capitol Hill Produce Southern Maryland Seafood,
Union Meat Market Poultry
The Market Lunch Buds Creek Farm
Agora Farms Dunham’s Produce
Knopp’s Farms Long Meadow Farm
Sunnyside Farm Ashton Farms
Morgals Produce Gardeners Gourmet
Swiss Peeler Tony’s Flowers
Ma Browns Baked Goods Puddin’
She Peppers Boso Foods
The Freshmobile The Pretzel Place
Mano de Maiz Conceptos
And so above tells the underlying story. The vendors think they’ll get more business from automobile traffic versus all the pedestrians that flock to the market on the weekends because the street is closed. I truly find it hard to believe that their business will increase with an open street; in fact it would appear to more likely decrease as pedestrians will be drawn away from the market by the relocation of the flea market and the barrier caused by moving cars. If i have to drive, I’ll just go to Safeway or Costco.
I am sorry I just don’t believe that reopening the street to traffic on the weekends will substantially affect sales inside the market. I just don’t. When the street was open all day, most of the parking spots were taken by vendors for the entire day except one or two spots and it has likely been decades since people drove to the market on the weekend and expected to park on the street in that block and run in to do some shopping. I have been going to EM since the early/mid 1990’s and anyone driving to the weekend EM festivities had to park 2, 3, 4 blocks away and walk anyway. Anyone driving (or trying to drive) up that street on the weekend likely didn’t understand how much of a problem it was. I avoided it like the plague and like anyone in the neighborhood just walked – like I do now.
I do think having that block closed has made the whole weekend situation so much less challenging. Not having to dodge cars, being able to spread out etc. Personally having more outside vendors = more people and more people=better sells outside and inside the building.
Keep it closed.