Norton to Cut Ribbon for First Retail Area at St. Elizabeths Campus, Gateway Pavilion
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Just as U.S. Coast Guard employees have moved to the St. Elizabeths West Campus, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) will speak and help cut the ribbon across the street at the St. Elizabeths Gateway Pavilion, today, Wednesday, October 23, 2013, at 10:00 a.m., at 2700 Martin Luther King Avenue, Jr. SE. The Gateway Pavilion, on the St. Elizabeths East Campus, is a multi-purpose outdoor structure that will benefit from the growing presence of federal employees, the first to work at a federal agency east of the Anacostia River, and will feature retail, a farmers market and other amenities that Ward 8 has long-needed.
"As employees join the Department of Homeland Security complex, the Gateway Pavilion will be a temporary but functional retail area until the expected permanent retail comes, as well as a community gathering place for weekend and after work activities, like farmers markets, music, art and cultural events," said Norton. "I greatly appreciate D.C.'s initiative in establishing the Gateway Pavilion. It is a prelude to what is to come. As I worked to bring the U.S. Department of Homeland Security complex of buildings to Ward 8, a major goal was to jumpstart the revitalization of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard with retail and mixed uses. The District has taken the first important step with the Gateway Pavilion."
Norton successfully urged the President to include $9,800,000 for D.C. to redevelop the St. Elizabeths East Campus, which is owned by D.C., in his proposed budget this year. Also included is $367,031,000 for continued construction of the consolidated DHS Headquarters on the East Campus, indicating the Administration's ongoing support of the project and its recognition of the long-term cost savings that come from consolidating agencies and moving them from leased office space into federally owned space. These funds ratify Norton's promise to the District and Ward 8 that despite a slower funding pace resulting from the recession, the DHS complex will be completed. Norton has argued strongly for assistance for the East Campus to complement the federal presence on the West Campus for employees who must cross the D.C. campus from the Congress Heights Metro station to get to the West Campus to help D.C. provide retail that encourages federal employees to shop in Ward 8, and to provide construction and permanent jobs for D.C. residents.
In May, Norton spoke at the groundbreaking for the Gateway Pavilion. In July, the House and Senate passed Norton's bill to name the new U.S. Coast Guard headquarters on the St. Elizabeths West Campus the "Douglas A. Munro Coast Guard Headquarters Building," for Signalman First Class Munro, the Coast Guard's only Medal of Honor recipient, who died heroically during a volunteer assignment in World War II. Also in July, Norton lead a preview tour for D.C. officials and Ward 8 and other D.C. residents of the Coast Guard headquarters, and a week later, she spoke at the ribbon-cutting of the new U.S. Coast Guard headquarters on the St. Elizabeths campus, after securing $1.4 billion in funding and guiding congressional oversight of construction of the headquarters. Norton secured funding for the 1.1-million-square-foot Coast Guard headquarters, as the recession began, not only to bring scattered DHS agencies together, but also to provide jobs and boost the D.C. and national economies. Although federal construction cannot give preference to local residents for jobs, Norton's oversight and vigorous outreach resulted in up to 22 percent of D.C. residents employed on the project although D.C. is only 10 percent of the region.
Published: October 23, 2013