I hadn't thought of using the top floor of the parking garages, probably because I tend to think of the ground floor as being the rightful "people space". I therefore coveted the first floor of the Cayuga Street garage. If there were a real interest in incorporating a farmers market, it could have been designed in. Ditto for the Green Street garage. Having said that, I agree that the top floors are underutilized and might serve. I can even imagine adding a roof and some plantings to dress the place up and add shelter. I do wonder about getting trucks up there -- the height limits would probably preclude all but pretty small ones, and I also wonder how many would use the stairs to access a market several flights up from ground level. I hope elevators are more efficient than I fear.
Looking around mentally, the only area I can point to that is in proximity to the Commons that could conceivably accommodate a traditional year-round market building with vehicle access for venders would be the space currently occupied by Pritchard Dodge. Their presence in that location is a bit of a historical artifact -- they are the only dealer not displaced with the urban renewal clearing of the adjacent block prior to the construction of the Woolworth building. Perhaps Pritchard would welcome being nearby all the other dealers on Elmira Road, and there are now empty buildings there that could be used. I can even imagine using the early Pritchard buildings as part of the farmers market structure, highlighting that part of downtown's history. Joel At 11:18 PM 10/14/08 -0400, you wrote: >At 02:20 PM 10/14/2008 -0700, George Frantz wrote: > >While I would love top see a central market downtown I'm not sure it would > >be a workable, or good idea.......much deleted..... > >and, again... > > >Finally, it should indeed be a publcily owned market. Parking garages > >after all can be publicly owned and subsidized, so why not a central market? > >Humm..... Perhaps a new farmers' market should be held in one of the >parking garages--like the top two floors of the new garage, the open roof >level and the level below it. I have heard that it is an underutilized >parking structure and perhaps this would be a good place to build permanent >stalls. And it is owned by the City already. Another location might be >the open space along the Six Mile Creek, behind the new buildings facing >Green St. and east of the new parking garage? Maybe these types of >locations would offer more flexibility and access to parking for those that >need to drive in than the Commons? At the same time they would offer easy >access to those that would walk or bike to the market. The downtown >location would encourage walking and biking over driving for many. It >certainly would for me. And I think this location would still draw traffic >to the Commons which would be one of the economic advantages of a downtown >Farmers' Market. Tom > >****************************************** >Tom Shelley >118 E. Court St. >Ithaca, NY 14850 >607 342-0864 >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Compost Educator and Sustainability Scion* > >What Does Zero Waste Mean? >"If it cant be reduced, reused, repaired, rebuilt, refurbished, refinished, >resold, recycled, or composted, then it should be restricted, redesigned, >or removed from production." >Berkeley Zero Waste Resolution >See http://www.cityofberkeley.info/council8/newsletter.pdf > >*noun: a shoot or bud of a plant, esp. one for planting or grafting >_______________________________________________ >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
