Alfonso Morales's blog

Good Day Folks,

The following is adopted from the work of Sean Basinski, the Executive Director of the Street Vending Project in New York City.

Last week Mayor Bloomberg signed into law Intro. 777, legislation spearheaded by the Street Vendor Project in NYC. The SVP was organized to give vendors a voice in that great city.

The new law requires the city to provide interpreters for vendors and other small business owners at the Environmental Control Board, where vendors fight tickets issued by various regulatory authorities. A recent article in Crains New York discusses the bill and the case of Cheikh Fall, a vendor and SVP board member.

For a "Kafka meets John Belushi" look at the what happened before Intro. 777, was signed into law take a look at this transcript http://streetvendor.org/media/pdfs/Munnu%20Dewan%20hearing.pdf of SVP member Munnu Dewan trying to represent himself in a hearing, without an interpreter and with little success. Munnu was ordered to pay a $300 fine.

In short, our diverse society benefits from vendors and merchants, the "third places" they help create, the eyes on the street that they are, but these benefits to the public are not without some costs, costs that are entirely reasonable and commonly born: equal standing before a court.

La Vida Locavore is the blog for anyone whose crazy life includes planting, growing, weeding, fertilizing, raising, picking, harvesting, processing, cooking, baking, making, serving, buying, selling, distributing, transporting, composting, organizing around, lobbying about, writing about, thinking about, talking about, playing with, and eating food!

Check it out!

Recent research by the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation and the UCLA School of Public Policy indicates how important street vendors and markets are for promoting health.

The RWJF report lauds markets for providing fresh and inexpensive produce to underserved populations. The report says that markets are "a promising way to increase fruit
and vegetable consumption among low-income families," but it also cautions that "limited transportation
alternatives in some urban areas may still hinder many families’ ability to
access farmers’ markets."

Planners and Policy makers need to build on the legislative initiatives discussed in this report, found at:

http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/balance122007.pdf

It is patently clear that sustainability, economic and community development, placemaking and other important goals are served by creating markets. Partnerships should be crafted, including public and private organizations, in enhancing food security and addressing public health by way of public markets.

With regard urban economic development James Rojas Goetz editorialized for planning report about the important role street vendors play in community life. It is ironic that street merchants under attack in LA are seen as one of the city's best tools for addressing a number of public problems. See the report at:

Gregg and I would like to welcome Miguel Granier to OPENAIR.ORG. Miguel has a MA in Urban Planning from Georgia Tech.

He is currently a Project Manager for Market Street Services in Atlanta. His experience is extensive, he was the Consulting Director of Operations at Appalachian Community Enterprises (ACE), a North Georgia based microfinance organization. Previously, as a Loan Consultant for ACCION New York, he helped secure loans for small business owners and entrepreneurs. He has also conducted several public seminars on managing credit and starting small businesses.

He will be blogging about markets, particularly indoor markets as well as street vendors in Atlanta and the Southeast. We hope he will help with questions on micro-credit, real estate, finance and insurance. We’re excited to add him to the team!

Here is a question from someone interested in creating farmers markets:

I am working on putting together innovative ideas the City of Seattle can use to gain permanent land tenure for local farmers markets. Options I have researched include public and private parking lots, as well as public street closure.

What I wanted to know from you, is if there were any new and exciting ideas/programs you could direct me to regarding this issue of permanent farmers market locations.

Here is my first response:

Here are a few thoughts:

First, regarding the politics of the process.

Have you a CBO or six to work with? They can help manage the politics of the process as well as help identify locations.

Have you a champion in the City to work with?

Please note the City of Chicago has had regular farmers markets for 27 years, see their webpage at: http://egov.cityofchicago.org/city/webportal/portalEntityHomeAction.do?entityName=Farmers+Markets&entityNameEnumValue=184

One thing to keep in mind is how to allocate space in the markets that are created. There are a number of ways to allocate space, some of which encourage experimentation with vending. Space allocation is VERY important and much more can be said about it.