D.C. officials ‘ineffectively managed’ Eastern Market, audit finds

D.C. officials have “ineffectively managed” the city’s historic Eastern Market, exposing the public’s money to “a total lack of financial and management accountability,” a new audit has found.

City council auditor Deborah Nichols reviewed five years of deals at the market and found that city authorities and executives at Eastern Market Ventures, the private nonprofit company asked to run the grand old farm stand, routinely broke rules and laws on contracting and financial management. Conditions may have worsened after the August, 2007 fire that decimated the market, Nichols found.