A central market (in Spanish, mercado central) is a standard feature of many Latin American cities and was, I believe, equally common in Europe before the twentieth century. It's a very sound traditional model.
The City of Ithaca is currently discussing ways to remake the Commons. It could certainly do worse than turn it into a permanent open-air market. It's probably one of the less expensive options, too. Jon Jan Quarles wrote: > 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 > > _______________________________________________ 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
