Blogs

Location(s)
197317 Fermskoe shosse
Saint-Petersburg
Russia

A Russian flee market – what is it? In St-Petersburg there exists one very unique market, the flee market Udelniy. The market is interesting for many reasons: It is the only market of it’s kind in the city as all other flea markets have been closed by local government within the last 5-7 years. Udelniy emerged in the soviet times and existed illegally for about 50 years. During the hard times of Perestroika many dwellers of Petersburg and suburbs survived and supported their families through selling goods at this flea market. Many of them still are selling there; they need it, they love it. To them Udelniy is more than a market; it is their way of life.

The city council of Detroit, Michigan recently loosened restrictions on sidewalk vending in the Motor City. Previously vending was limited to certain areas-- downtown and the Wayne State University area-- and vendors were limited to vending only hot dogs, balloons, flowers, fruit, hand-drawn portraits or caricatures, and snack foods. Now vendors will be allowed to apply for licenses to sell anywhere in the city, and the list of approved items has been expanded to include handbags, sunglasses and wallets, crafts, coffee, clothing, and fragrances and incense.

The new law drew protest from a number of merchants. They shouldn't worry. Vending in Detroit remains highly regulated. A vendor may not sell within 100 feet of a competing business, and is required to provide a trash receptacle for customers and pick up all trash (whatever the source) within 15 feet of her vending spot. Vendors are prohibited from interfering with the movement of pedestrians or blocking storefront display windows.

What sells homes? What do the denizens of cities enjoy? Street Markets. Street markets are amenities that buoy the value of places, homes, neighborhoods and cities. Public entities make places more livable, make homes more attractive and make streets friendlier by creating street markets, or permitting those created privately to exist.

Think Los Angeles and you think cruising in your car down Sunset Boulevard. But even in LA people wish for walkable neighborhoods. A recent NYTimes article describes "A scruffy stretch [of street} known as Sunset Junction, bordering Silverlake" that has become "an appealing mix of low-key restaurants and eclectic shops that draw(s)...creative types with long mornings and limited incomes." This is just the "creative class" that contemporary cities need to attract "clean" industry and higher paying jobs. What attracts this type of citizen? The street market, is one of a variety of amenities that makes that "scruffy" street attractive. The farmers’ market that sets up every Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon (Sunset Boulevard between Edgecliffe Drive and Griffith Park Boulevard) provides food to the ethnic restaurants, interaction between neighbors and the opportunity for the people watching that is at the core of creative activities.

Cities continue to be stymied in their efforts to control where day laborers seek work. Southhampton Village, New York recently built a circular driveway in a public park so that employers could have a place to pick up workers without leaving their vehicles and without slowing traffic on the street. But neighbors sued, claiming that to use a park for anything but recreation was unlawful. The court agreed, forcing the city to go back to square one.

On the other coast, Baldwin Park, a Los Angeles suburb, barred day laborers from soliciting work in parking lots and sidewalks unless they left a 3-foot buffer for pedestrians. But the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, "MALDEF," a public interest organization, sued on behalf of the laborers. In granting a temporary restraining order against the city, the court found that the ordinance violated the First Amendment, which bars government discrimination against certain kinds of speech (here commercial speech) absent a compelling government interest. The news reports are a little unclear, but it appears that the 3-foot buffer amounted to a de facto ban on soliciation from the sidewalks of the city.

New Yorkers may see 1500 new fruit and vegetable vending carts over the next several years-- if Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn win approval of their plan. Today's New York Times reports that currently there are 4100 mobile food carts operating in the city, but only 10% sell fresh fruit and vegetables.
The point is to encourage healthy eating by city residents.

One might think that this is another example of the rich getting richer. After all, New York City is one of the most densely populated cities in the U.S. Many residents live without a car, relying on public transportation and walking. But even with all that exercise, it seems that some people aren't getting their 5 servings a day. The Green Cart program would bring fruit and veggie carts to city neighborhoods that have particularly low fruit and vegetable consumption rates.