A Chat With Our Congresswoman
16 06 2008This past Saturday we were invited along with a few other DC websites to have a conversation with our city’s Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton in the NoMa lounge of Artomatic. The conversation covered a wide range of topics including everything from the the District’s handgun issue before the Supreme Court, to the harassment of local photographers at Union Station. However we couldn’t help but ask a few questions about new development in the city…
The Congresswoman really has been a true advocate for development in the District over the last few decades using Federal facilities to anchor revivals in areas like NoMa and Near Southeast. When we asked her “where next?” Congresswoman Norton got excited over development on the other side of the Anacostia saying “I love to be involved in development and that’s the next place… in the history of the Federal government nothing has been built on the other side of the Anacostia.”
Like the ATF and DOJ for NoMa and the new Department of Transportation HQ in Near Southeast, DHS will be moving to Anacostia. The statute for the Department of Homeland Security currently going through Congress requires their new facilities be built in Ward 8, the Congresswoman told us.
Congresswoman Norton also spoke about how she chose her home in the District, a three story whitestone on Capitol Hill along 9th Street Southeast. After living in New York in a brownstone walkup, she was looking for a similar look and feel and settled on Capitol Hill and has been there ever since. She also mentioned how she can’t wait for the Akridge Union Station development we have talked about in the past… she may even be more excited about it then we are!
Overall it is clear that the District couldn’t have anyone better on its side when it comes to knowing what the city needs and it was cool to see how excited and invested the Congresswoman is in all the development going on around town.
[Flickr Credit: Pianoman75]
It is sorta crazy that an area so close to the Capitol with such cheap land hasn’t been taken advantage of by the Federal Government and they have chosen other way more expensive locations (our tax dollars at work people).
Eleanor Holmes Norton is great for the city but until she has a vote how in the world is going to be taken seriously? People in Congress just think of her as a talking head with a congressional title unfortunately.
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