Downtowner DC: Holiday Market, Wilson High, Tidal Basin
By • November 16, 2020 0 1517
Holiday Market Is Coming Back
The Downtown Holiday Market, centered on 8th and F Streets NW, will return for its 16th season, choosing not to let COVID get in its way. There will be new health and safety protocols in place at the open-air village, which opens on Friday, Nov. 20, and stays open until Dec. 23 (closed Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 30 and Dec. 7 and 14). Hours are noon to 8 p.m. and admission is free. Like many events this year, the market plans to offer virtual programming, too.
Wilson High to Be Renamed
It’s official: the District Council unanimously approved a resolution supporting the renaming of Tenleytown’s Woodrow Wilson High School. Detailing how “President Wilson’s racism had a disproportionate impact on our city,” an Oct. 6 Committee of the Whole report states: “DCPS should act quickly to update its school naming protocol and move quickly with a community engagement process to address the issue of renaming.”
Tidal Basin to Be Redesigned
The Tidal Basin Ideas Lab, launched last year by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Trust for the National Mall, the National Park Service and American Express, unveiled five proposals from leading landscape architecture firms to reimagine the Tidal Basin, home to the Jefferson Memorial and thousands of cherry trees cherished by Washingtonians and tourists alike. The proposals may be viewed at tidalbasinideaslab.org.
Pardoned Felon to Open Museum
With all that has gone on this past year, some may not remember President Donald Trump pardoning financier Michael Milken, who served less than two years of a 10-year sentence after pleading guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges in 1990. The “Junk Bond King,” now a philanthropist, is planning to open the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream in the old Riggs Bank headquarters, half a block from the White House, in 2023.
AG Racine Sues D.C. Synagogue
D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine filed a lawsuit late last month alleging that Washington Hebrew Congregation, a Cathedral Heights synagogue that runs a fee-based childcare center, “routinely ignored District laws to protect children and created an environment ripe for abuse.” Two years ago, the center made it known that some of the children enrolled there had been sexually abused by an assistant teacher.
Area Airport Revenue Plummets
D.C.-area airports Reagan National and Dulles International are seeing a major drop in revenue, from duty-free sales (at Dulles) and parking fees to rental car and retail income, WTOP reported. Year-to-date figures through August, showing total revenue of $339 million, were down 35.9 percent from the same period in 2019 and only 43 percent of the amount budgeted, reported the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.
