Note about Davis farmers market!

[obie119.livejournal.com]

Hey folks,
So, just wanted to update you on something that began last week at the Davis Square farmers market - some of the farmers have volunteered to help out the market's managing organization (Mass Farmers Markets, the only nonprofit in the state dedicated to running MA's 195+ markets) by having a coffee can at their booth.

Why? Well, naively I would have thought that cities and towns might waive fees for farmers markets to set up - in fact, I might have even thought that some might pay for this service. After all, farmers markets help build community, support local businesses and farms, and help encourage healthy eating. Anyway, the rent for the Davis market has gone up this year, by 66%. As a grassroots organization, the market and its farmers are taking a grassroots approach to making up the shortfall!

So, if you see the cans and the farmer is too busy to explain, well, that is the explanation. So on behalf of Mass Farmers Markets - I'm on the board - we appreciate any efforts to help with this particular budget shortfall :) And please come enjoy your local MA-made products - peaches and plums and early corn are here!

Thanks :)

Comments

[ron_newman]

That surprised me too. Why should a farmer's market have to pay money to the city to operate on public land? Does the Union Square market also have to pay such a fee?

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

What is the rent for the market?

[desiringsubject.livejournal.com]

I wonder if it has something to do with it being a parking lot? These days, ALL my thoughts about the inadequacies of Somerville seem to come back to parking. I would think that the logic would run that the farmer's market takes a bunch of metered parking spaces out of play for the better part of a day, thus the city isn't taking anything in from those meters, so the farmers have to offset.

What I then wonder is: why aren't they set up in the square itself, in front of JP licks? Or in some other public but not metered parking spot... along the bit of the bike path by the flower garden? Powder house park?

[mrf-arch.livejournal.com]

Does the market use water or electricity provided by the city? Does it consume part of a public parking lot the city would otherwise make money off of? Does it require road closures that need cops to supervise them?

Just a few guesses of the top of my head. I think it's a fine idea that the city should waive fees for worthy causes, but the headaches about who is worthy enough would soon be enough to try the patience of Job. Not to mention the complaining when Somerville tries to make up for losing another source of revenue by raising the parking meter fees even further. :-)

[ron_newman]

I think it would be hard to get trucks in and out of those places -- and if those places are parkland, the trucks would probably ruin the grass.

[ron_newman]

It uses part of a a public parking lot, but (to my knowledge) no water or electricity. It does not close any roads.

[desiringsubject.livejournal.com]

Hmph, true. There are three farmer's markets in NYC that are on land ... mmm like City Hall Plaza here! Where do we have more land like that? Paved, big, but not *used* for anything most of the time. (In NYC, I'm thinking of Union Square, Grand Army Plaza, and Borough Hall Plaza Bklyn).

[turil.livejournal.com]

Well, one could draw the line between for-profit and nonprofit. The Farmers at the market are mostly for-profit. (Though there is at least one non-profit at the Union Square market - Drumlin Farm.)

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Indeed I'd go a step further and say it'd be nice if Somerville would set up a permanent, year-round public market for local farmers and fisherman like the one at the Eastern Market in DC or Pike's Place in Seattle. This is something Mayor Menino has proposed doing on the Kennedy Greenway and I think it'd be pretty amazing to have something like that in Somerville, too!

[masswich.livejournal.com]

I think the fee is all about the lost revenue from the parking lot - at least it is in other cities. And while I support farmers markets I do think that if a parking lot is being used the city should get some or all of the lost revenue back. Or, even better, the farmers market should locate somewhere there is no lost revenue.

[jlauspitz.livejournal.com]

There does seem to be a problem of fairness in that the City subsidizes the Union Square Farmer's Market with a direct appropriation.

[enhf94.livejournal.com]

http://www.bostonpublicmarket.org/

[jadelennox]

Could you crosspost this to farmersmkt_by_t?

[avjudge]

This was my thought, but then I realized that at .50 or $1/hour per parking space, I don't think the city is losing the thousands of $$ it's charging. (Can't believe I've forgotten the numbers in just a week, but I was surprised by how high it was.)

Anne

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Yep. That. Only 365 days a year and much, much bigger.

[narya.livejournal.com]

Yeah, this, 40 parking spots at $.50/hour for 7 hours is $140/week.

I would bet that the city is also trying to cover some insurance costs (in case someone gets hurt or something and sues the city) but that's just a guess.

From massfarmersmarkets.org

[taranwan.livejournal.com]

Here's a little piece about the Davis Sq Farmers Market from massfarmersmarkets.org, which sends out a weekly email about various farmers markets around town. (I hope I'm not in any copyright violation.)


SOMERVILLE DAVIS SQUARE
W, 12pm - 6pm
Peter Ward, Market Manager

The rest of July will be bountiful, with a plethora of fresh-picked vegetables after all that rain and finally sun. Summer squash comes in many shapes and is delicious right now. Greens - bok choy, collards, kale, mustard, chard, pea tendrils - all great for sautéing or (my favorite) steaming. The lettuce and beets are spectacular. "Summer-dug" potatoes cook fast and moist. Fruit? Yes, peaches, plump blueberries and cherries sweet and tart. Meat, herbs, all-natural soaps, herbal honey, smoked seafood, fresh-baked bread and desserts and goat and mozzarella cheese - all at one market!

You may have noticed the yellow cans and signs at the last market. Well, in a nutshell, the financially-strapped city abruptly raised the fee we pay to rent the parking lot, from $1,500 to $2,500 - a whopping 67% - so we're seeking your help and appreciate any spare change you can contribute.

"I don't want you to go anywhere else," said one loyal customer as she placed a dollar into the can.

Last week's effort netted just over $200 - one-fifth of the way there, but we need a sustained effort. Thanks so much for your generosity.
-Peter

[ron_newman]

I just took a walk over there. The city bags 25 parking meters for the day. Meters operate from 8 am to 8 pm, and now cost 50 cents per hour, but they're about to go up to $1/hour.

So: $12*25 = $300/week. I don't understand why the city needs to charge the market more than this.

Re: From massfarmersmarkets.org

[narya.livejournal.com]

The $1500/$2500 is for the whole season? Or is it per month or per week?

[masswich.livejournal.com]

I don't know what the weekly rent is (see below- is that weekly or seasonally?) The $300 for parking meters is only part of the revenue the city gets from the parking lot - most municipal parking lots generate a significant portion (half, even) of their revenue from parking tickets at expired meters. So if the meters are $300 the city might get $600 for a day's use of that lot. Plus the issue of insurance, and you are pushing $750 of costs for one farmer's market.

I'm not saying the city shouldn't subsidize it, but if the decision is that they should not, $750 a week seems about right.

As for Union Square (see below) they do not use a parking lot, and therefore the cost to the city of use of the space is minimal. Again, whether it should be subsidized or not is a different issue but the city's cost of the use of the Union Square plaza is probably $200 a week or so.

[tim-sackton.livejournal.com]

According to the Mass Farmers Market email I received (can't find it their website, so no link), the rent for the parking lot was $1500, and is going up to $2500. Given that the market runs for ~25 weeks, that is ~$100/week even at the raised rate. Seems like a pretty good deal for the market to me, actually. I doubt $100/week fully covers the parking revenue the city collects on an average weekday in the summer.

[tt02144.livejournal.com]

Besides the obvious costs of lost parking revenue by hosting the market, and probably insurance liability costs, I'm sure that the DPW incurs labor costs by doing clean-up at the end of the day. Also, you would need to factor in some type of maintenance charge perhaps, for repairs made to the parking lot and surrounding streets. I don't see why the city should subsidize this. Every group that uses city space (both indoor and outdoor) considers themselves 'worthy', but the city cannot subsidize every group (non-profit youth sports groups pay enormous amounts of money to use school gyms, with no subsidy or discount from the city). Especially given that this is a for-profit venture, the city must recoup its' costs. Public land is for use by all, not by the few. If businesses wish to rent public land for periods of time, they must be properly permitted and pay a fee. I don't see this as unfair at all.

[obie119.livejournal.com]

..except that the managing organization (MA Farmers Markets) is indeed a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. I appreciate your feedback however.

The hardest part of the fee is that it came unexpectedly a few days before market started, iirc.