The D.C. Office of Property Management will hold a workshop in the Hine Junior High School Cafeteria on Thursday evening to gauge the community’s opinion of the current management of Eastern Market.

“The Office of Property Management has hired the Project for Public Spaces to help us draft a [request for proposals] for new market management,” said Matt Hussman of OPM. “David O’Neil will be running the workshop and he’s met with a large number of stakeholders already. We wanted to organize a public meeting.”

The Project for Public Spaces is a New York- based architecture and urban planning company. O’Neil, who serves as senior associate for public markets and formerly managed the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia, will be leading the meeting on Thursday.

“There’s a lot of in-house issues [at Eastern Market] like with operations and trash and setups,” O’Neil said. “The RFP is not going to be the answer to all these problems, but good management is the answer to these problems.”

Eastern Market is currently managed by Eastern Market Ventures and more specifically Bryan Cook. Cook had no comment at press time.

“I’m optimistic,” O’Neil said. “The market’s evolving and there’s so much community interest in the market … That’s actually what has saved the market over the decades.”

Thursday’s meeting will start at 7 p.m. Hine Junior High School is located at Eighth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue Southeast.

AOC to Discuss Tunnel Repair Project

The Architect of the Capitol’s office will host a community meeting on Wednesday night to discuss utility tunnel repair work along Second Street Southeast, which will begin this spring.

The AOC is planning to undertake “major repairs” to the Second Street utility tunnel, including excavating the street from North Carolina Avenue to its intersection with C Street, according to an AOC press release.

The meeting will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the basement of St. Peter’s Catholic Church, which is located at 313 Second St. SE.

— Alison McSherry and Leah Carliner