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Old Posted Apr 22, 2006, 3:31 AM
upinottawa upinottawa is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Ottawa/Windsor
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From today's Windsor Star. I may be wrong, but I don't think the Byward Market vendors in Ottawa have their own hand washing stations.

Rethink market

Gord Henderson, Windsor Star
Published: Saturday, April 22, 2006

Holy smoked salami. Here we go again.

That was my gut reaction this week when, out of the blue, the Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association announced plans to open a farmers market by the end of May in the city-owned armouries.

The news, unveiled at the association's annual meeting, took a lot of folks by surprise, including Mayor Eddie Francis and senior city officials, and had critics like John Fairley, former Market Square manager, and yours truly, racing for the ramparts.

Good grief, I groaned. What does it take to keep a dumb idea dead and buried? This battle was decided nine years ago when city residents told councillors they didn't want their tax dollars spent on a downtown market building that would compete with private sector plans for a market in a vacant plant at Walker and Ottawa.

On April Fool's Day in 1997, council shelved plans for a $7.6-million market east of city hall. Several councillors said they were bowing to overwhelming public pressure and one, Donna Gamble, blamed me and The Star's editorial board for orchestrating public opposition to the "most well thought out" document she'd seen during her years on council.

The wisdom of that retreat became evident a month later when Market Square opened to huge crowds and its success triggered business investments that resurrected a forlorn section of Walker Road.

What concerns me is that the armouries plan, although it sounds like it's been whipped up on the back of a beer coaster, could be a test run for a larger scheme involving city assistance. As Coun. David Cassivi put it back in 1997 when he voted against the downtown market, a future council could "resurrect" the plans.

TRICKY BUSINESS

Fairley, a cable TV host and bingo industry representative, questions whether the initiative's backers understand just how tricky it is to get a farmers market up and running.

"You can't do it like we used to do it," said Fairley, explaining that Market Square had to close its tent operation because of costly health unit requirements that included hand-washing and produce-washing sinks at each vendor outlet. It's no longer a matter of throwing cabbages on portable tables and declaring yourself open for business.

If cheese or meat were to be included, said Fairley, costs would skyrocket. "Where's your refrigerators? Where's your temperature gauges? Where's the parking? What about the loading docks? Who's going to pay for the (daily) cleanup? Where's the garbage going to be kept?"

It better not be Windsor taxpayers picking up the tab. Fairley, who was bending ears, including those of the mayor, following the announcement Wednesday, said he's no longer concerned this will evolve into a debate between competing market views.

I'm not so sure. Mark Boscariol, association chairman, told me Friday his group has five vendors lined up and hopes to have 17 on -oard for the grand opening.

"We'll be less than half the size of Market Square and will have less than half the choice," said Boscariol. "It's really a temporary thing just to get it going." He defended the initiative as "private business" paid for by association members rather than taxpayers and noted that anyone could rent the armouries. "We're not inventing the wheel. Maybe we'll screw it up but I'm not going to back down," he vowed.

Fairley would like to see the business association go way beyond selling zucchinis in a dingy armouries.

"Be creative. We know festivals work in this city," said Fairley, explaining that Charles Clark Square, which is all but abandoned once the ice goes out, should be turned into an open-air "green market" Thursday and Friday afternoons and evenings in the summer.

He envisions a weekly happening involving area musicians, the local arts and crafts community, downtown restaurants, flower peddlers and other vendors that would create an ideal place for mingling and sipping.

"You need an experience to bring them downtown. Build on the Maiden Lane success," said Fairley. He said the square is ideal, given that it already has an amphitheatre, washrooms and concessions.

That's creative thinking. And it stands head and shoulders over the association's dubious plan to use dirt-cheap rent (about $600 a day) on a city-owned building to compete with a tax-paying private sector in the fruit and vegetable business.

Back to the drawing boards.

ghenderson@thestar.canwest.com

© The Windsor Star 2006

Last edited by upinottawa; Apr 22, 2006 at 11:05 PM.
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