GALLERY NEWS

June 22, 2002

Gallery Challenges Constitutionality of EM Act

On May 3, 2002, Market 5 Gallery filed suit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia challenging the constitutionality of the Eastern Market Real Property Asset Management and Outdoor Vending Act of 1998. The City Council passed the law to improve the Eastern Market on Capital Hill with the intention of protecting the Market's existing tenants.

The lawsuit, filed by activist attorney Donald M. Temple, claims that critical terms and provisions of the Act, which the DC Executive Branch has interpreted to Market 5 Gallery's detriment, are unconstitutional on their face and as applied. "The District and certain members of the Market's advisory committee appear to have wanted Market 5 Gallery out of its space all along," Temple says. He adds that the District attempted to evict the Gallery soon after the Act's implementation "because the statute is contradictory and vague."

Market 5 Gallery is asking the Court to overturn the Act and to award appropriate damages. For more information on this litigation, contact Deborah Mack at (202) 628-1101.

May 10, 2002

Civil Lawsuit Threatens the Existence of the
Market 5 Gallery — by Carin Luke

For a quarter of a century, Market 5 Gallery has been devoted to providing diverse cultural resources to the Capital Hill community and the greater Washington, DC area.

The philosophy of the Market 5 Gallery has always been to provide opportunity to budding artists. This, says John Harrod, is the Gallery's reason for existing, to give people the chance to experiment, try new things, even fail as necessary, as part of developing as artists.

In addition, Market 5 Gallery offers a wide range of cultural activities to the community. Accessible art in the form of gallery exhibitions, musical and dance performances, poetry readings, and amateur theater productions is available to the immediate community through the efforts of the Market 5 Gallery.

Not everyone acknowledges the value that Market 5 Gallery
has provided over the past 25 years and continues to provide to
the city.

Click here for a transcript of an interview with Attorney Donald Temple, whose firm is handling the Market 5 Gallery's civil litigation with the District of Columbia.

Please consider donating to the Market 5 Gallery Legal Defense Fund. Our civil struggle with the city government affects every tenant of the city and every individual who enjoys and participates in the artistic endeavors sponsored by Market 5 Gallery. We need your help in continuing and winning this struggle to keep the Market 5 Gallery in its home in the North Hall of Eastern Market.

For more information contact:

Diane Freeman at (202) 543-7293.

Thank you for your support.