An FYI, posted to the New Hill East list. Good to know where our donations are going:

Fw: [newhilleast] Eastern Market update

Posted by: "Nicholas Alberti" alberti6a04@yahoo.com   alberti6a04

Wed Jun 6, 2007 8:37 am (PST)

Yesterday I attended a meeting with Harold Pettigrew, Kathleen Penney and Amiee Ochetti. Harold is the Eastern Market Tzar, Kathleen is responsible for construction and equipment, and Amiee represents the City in its capacity as landlord. There was one person present from Turner Construction and several representatives of the merchants were also there.

Turner reported that the order for the refrigerator/ freezer equipment had gone in. The City needs to release funds for the purchase. Turner anticipates that the equipment will be delivered in 4 to 6 weeks. Upon the delivery the equipment takes one to 2 weeks to install. The merchants will need two days to set up for operation. This means that the East Hall could open sometime between July 16 (best case) and August 13 (worst case). As we move along, the date of opening should become more certain and I will keep you posted. The City is still committed to opening in July, maybe late July now.

The Foundation has been asked to pick up the costs of the small equipment. There are no firm numbers on the costs but $250,000 to $270,000 seems to be in the ballpark. Given our current financial position, we could use and additional $100,000. With this in mind, if you haven't given yet but intend to, now is the time to make a donation.

Those of you who have donated time and/or money should know that the merchants are awestruck buy the outpouring of love and support from the community. They want me to pass on their deepest thank you. Once they are back in business they want to have a customer appreciation day for all of you.

If you haven't been by the market in a while, please stop and look at the murals on the plywood covering the windows. They are fantastic. There is some talk about auctioning these off. Pick out the one you'd like. There may be a place for one in your house or backyard.

Despite the rain last weekend we still sold around $3,000 worth of T-shirts. We still have most sizes and please think of these as birthday or Christmas gifts. Riverby Books at 417 East Capitol St. has them for sale. But, if you can't stop by there, we will have our booth at the market through July 29th.

VOLUNTEERS needed. We will need volunteers for the booth on Sat. and Sun. until July 29. We have the time slots filled for the middle of the day and need people from 9 to 11 and 2 to 4 both days. Of course this weekend is a priority, but look at your calendar and get back to me at pgarylaw@aol. com.

Again, thanks for all you've done. If you have any questions please let me know.