Not fifteen minutes after leaving Potomac Gardens, where the second membership meeting of Grassroots DC was held, buoyed by the productivity that took place and possibilities for change that the organization holds, my joyous mood came to a screeching halt as I turned right onto 6th St from Florida Avenue. What greeted me as I drove north on 6th was the large warehouse formerly known as The Florida Avenue Market (D.C. Farmers Market) and is now, as the 10 foot letters herald from the building’s rooftop, The Union Market.
The familiar scenarios that accompanied the D.C. Farmers Market; the weekend flea market where you could find anything from a pair of wingtips to an old Delphonics 45 record, have been replaced by a white building; its starkness broken only by the bright orange awnings that hang above the market’s doors and windows.
The changes unfortunately don’t stop with the exterior revamps; the smells of freshly butchered meat, fried fish, the flickering fluorescent lights, have all been replaced by chandeliers, artwork, and a new patronage. There was a time when a customer of the market could by a whole pig, snout to tail, everything except the squeal, fresh greens, chittlins, fish, sauces, chow chow. More than the food, it was a community meeting place, a place to catch up with fellow Farmers Market customers, exchange cooking tips, and recipes, a place on which you could depend to have the items, ingredients you needed for family recipes that are typically passed from generation to generation. Today “The Union Market” offers its customers aged cheeses, chocolatiers, designer olive oils, free yoga classes and no visible signs of the authentic District of Columbia so many residents long for and whose passing we mourn.
More than the tactile and visual changes that gentrification brings, the intangible impacts of gentrification are just as destructive. Let’s examine a remark made by Jodie McLean the head of EDENS, the company that took over the D.C. Farmers Market. ” We want to be a part of a project in a truly authentic part of the city,” EDENS President Jodie McLean said. “The market is a storied part of D.C. We want to bring in high-quality, locally prepared fresh produce, meat, poultry and fish.” We want to be a part of a project in a truly authentic part of the city,” EDENS President Jodie McLean said. “The market is a storied part of D.C. We want to bring in high-quality, locally prepared fresh produce, meat, poultry and fish.” I’m not really certain what Mclean means by “authentic part of the city” as gentrification usually leaves little room for authenticity.
The idea that the produce, meats, and other products that the Farmers Market vendors offered weren’t of high quality, is at best an insult; this wholesale discounting of culture, history, and race are what I consider to be at the heart of gentrification. Though I would never claim to know the mind of real estate developers who are an integral part of the gentrification equation, the callous disregard for generations’ old communities and traditions seemingly make the process of displacing people at will more palatable to those doing the displacement.
Deciding on the issues and topics we would cover at Grassroots DC was part of the agenda at our meeting; at the top of the list of issues we plan to address is gentrification; stay tuned.
