I'm envisioning the Ithaca Commons like Haymarket Square in Boston, or the center of most little European villages: full of truck farmers selling produce, cheeses and other local foods on certain evenings. Going on foot is (1) healthier for the pedestrians; (2) buying direct is better for the farmers; (3) interactions happen when we're not isolated in our cars, and these interactions add 'synergy' to the local economy; (4) reduces car traffic; (5) encourages more folks to rent apartments on The Commons; and (6) all these factors encourage local businesses to lease commercial spaces there. So why wouldn't the City/County invest in that scenario, when it's win-win times 3?
Jan Quarles ----- Original Message ----- From: "Simon St.Laurent" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Sustainable Tompkins County listserv" <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, October 11, 2008 1:16 PM Subject: Re: [SustainableTompkins] Local, collaborative farming > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >> To continue George's line of thought: >> >> Why don't the governments of Ithaca and Tompkins County build and run >> farmers markets? It is shameful that the city extracts rent from Ithaca >> Farmers Market for the use of public property, and made us build and >> maintain our own structure and grounds, costs that made the overhead >> prohibitive for many farmers to sell at the market. To help defray these >> costs we were forced to bring more money in by turning the market into a >> fast food and arts and crafts touristic mini-mall. > > There was talk a few years ago (2001?) about having the Town of Dryden > set up a Farmers Market in Varna. I'll see where that went. > > (Dryden does at least have farmstands around, but there's certainly more > possible.) > > Thanks, > Simon St.Laurent > http://simonstl.com/ > _______________________________________________ > For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, > please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ > > RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: > [email protected] > http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins > free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG. > Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 270.8.0/1719 - Release Date: 10/10/2008 > 4:08 PM > > _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
