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.

Today's Los Angeles Times reports that Los Angeles County is considering stiffening penalties for taco trucks that operate illegally. Currently taco trucks may remain stationary no longer than 30 minutes, subject to a fine of $60. But finding that some trucks are undeterred, the County proposes to give them up to an hour, but increase the fine to $1000. I blogged about a similar crackdown in Salinas, California last June. http://www.openair.org/blog/kettles_mc_edu?page=3
The reason is the same. Taco truck detractors complain that the mobile eateries contribute to disorder on public streets and unfairly compete with fixed restaurants.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-tacotruck14apr14,0,4600263.story?page=1

Taco truck operators have threatened suit, hiring attorney Philip C. Greenwald to represent them. It's not clear what the basis of a suit would be. The operators might take a cue from a Maryland Attorney General, who opined that restrictions designed to bar day laborers from soliciting work from passing motorists was preempted by state law on road safety and violated free speech rights guaranteed by the first amendment. I blogged about that last week. http://www.openair.org/node/413

Preemption may apply here, too, especially for trucks on Whittier, Rosemead, and Firestone Boulevards. Those routes are numbered California State Highways.

Last week the Maryland Attorney General issued an opinion that a Gaithersburg, MD prohibition on certain kinds of roadside solicitation is invalid.

A year ago Gaithersburg enacted an ordinance prohibiting pedestrians on the sidewalk or in the roadway from soliciting employment from automobiles. The city cited the risk of traffic accidents posed by day laborers hustling work from passing motorists. The state attorney general acknowledged these concerns, but believed that the city had gone too far toward addressing them.

One problem with the ordinance was that it was pre-empted by state law. The state of Maryland already regulates solicitations by pedestrians from standing in a roadway, intersection, or median divider. Further, the state legislature made clear its intention that these rules would be uniform state-wide, and not subject to patch-work ordinances by local governments.