Norton to Speak at St. Elizabeths Gateway Pavilion Groundbreaking

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) will speak today, Wednesday, May 29, 2013, at 10:15 a.m., at 1100 Alabama Ave. SE, at the groundbreaking for the St. Elizabeths Gateway Pavilion. The Gateway Pavilion, being built in anticipation of the coming of the first federal employees to be housed east of the Anacostia River, will be a multi-purpose outdoor structure serving District residents, visitors, small businesses and federal employees. It is the first of several facilities for federal employees that are coming to the U.S. Coast Guard headquarters building on the St. Elizabeths West Campus to open later this year.

"I very much appreciate D.C.'s initiative in establishing the Gateway Pavilion, for our own residents, but also providing an attractive and functional area to eat, meet and shop for federal employees who are due to begin working at the upcoming Coast Guard headquarters on the St. Elizabeths West Campus soon" said Norton. "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. The District is taking 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 U.S. Department of Homeland Security Headquarters (DHS) 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.

Published: May 29, 2013