Seven hundred people filled out our shopper survey at last week’s market, and we hope more folks will at tomorrow’s market. Like our survey to the vendors, we aren’t asking for opinions about moving the market to Fountain Square. We’re asking what’s important for shoppers at any farmers market: parking, variety and number of vendors, layout, hours, and support for Link.
Friends’ purpose is gathering information, and then sharing it with everyone who has an interest in our farmers market. Our first survey, and a collection of comments from readers and market shoppers was delivered in person to Mayor Biss, among other folks. At the moment, Friends isn’t trying to persuade anyone; Friends’ intention is to inform everyone.
That intention got a little muddled at last week’s market. The couple of signs about the survey included the phrase, “Don’t let them move our market.” That is not Friends’ position, as we’ve stressed many times.
Had those signs read, “DON’T LET THEM MOVE OUR MARKET UNLESS THE PROPERTY BECOMES UNAVAILABLE, AND ONLY IF THE PROCESS IS TRANSPARENT AND INCLUDES EVANSTON CITIZENS AND THE TEAM THAT SUCCESSFULLY RUNS THE MARKET NOW,” we would have needed a much longer sign, but that would have reflected what we’re really about.
The result has been a general concern about how imminent moving the market might be. To answer that question, let’s look at the public record, and see what’s been discussed and what’s been decided. Then you’ll know what we know.
DOWNTOWN EVANSTON BOARD MEETING ON JANUARY 14, 2021.
The minutes include this discussion:
Farmers Market Management
- Erika Storlie presented opportunity for DTE to manage the Farmer’s Market
- Paul commented that City is really focusing on service delivery and the market does not fall under that umbrella; Paul will share expense/income report which shows it is a net-positive operation
- Annie noted possibility of moving it to Fountain Square
Erika Storlie is Evanston’s City Manager
Paul Zalmezak is Evanston’s Economic Development Manager.
Annie Coakley is the Executive Director of Downtown Evanston.
So the City Manager and The Economic Development Manager presented an opportunity to take over management of the Farmers Market to Downtown Evanston. The Executive Director of Downtown Evanston added the notion of moving the market to Fountain Square.
From this presentation, we move to the next meeting of the Evanston Economic Development Committee.
EVANSTON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE MEETING ON FEBRUARY 24, 2021
The meeting packet included a memorandum on page 30. The memorandum begins:
Recommended Action: Staff recommends Economic Development Committee discuss contracting with Downtown Evanston for the management of the Farmer’s Market.
Council Action: For Discussion
Summary: Staff is seeking input from the Economic Development Committee about a proposal to consider transferring management of the Evanston Farmers Market to Downtown Evanston.
After some history and background, the memorandum ends:
Staff is seeking the Economic Development Committee’s feedback on Downtown Evanston’s potential management of the Farmers Market. The advantages to shifting the management of the market to Downtown Evanston include:
- Allows City to focus on higher level of core service delivery.
- Brings a renewed energy and new ideas to the market as downtown district reinvents post pandemic and growing negative impacts of e-commerce.
- Potential relocation to Fountain Square and downtown streets to increase shopping and dining visits at existing storefronts.
- Provides Downtown Evanston with a new potential revenue opportunity ultimately reducing its dependence on additional City of Evanston financial contributions.
We have already shared the minutes of this meeting, and we’ll give you links to all these documents, but the final comment in the minutes has the best answer to the question everyone is asking.
“Mr. Zalmezak said [the Farmers Market] would likely operate in current location for at least another season or two. It would take some time to transition and plan.”
To summarize, the city presented Downtown Evanston with the opportunity to manage the market. They did not demur, and DTE’s Executive Director suggested the actual moving of the market. The idea was then presented to the EDC in the form of a memorandum.
The memorandum outlines the benefits that might accrue. In the EDC meeting itself, aldermen and staff speculated about more potential benefits. There wasn’t any supporting data presented along with these ideas. They mention “…there would need to be a year of transition to meet with current staff and farmers,” and one alderman, “…suggested talking with farmers to get their feedback.”
There has as yet been no meeting with current staff or farmers, and no feedback sought. There’s no firm timeline, so there’s nothing wrong with that. But in the apparent absence of any research, Friends reached out to our vendors and gathered a lot of data. We reached out to you folks in this newsletter and collected a lot of opinions. Our shopper survey is gathering more data AND more opinions. Bottom line–after the reporting in February, this initiative was completely under the radar. Friends felt that shoppers and vendors should know about it, and that the city should know what those groups felt about the possibility.
If the EDC and DTE choose to move forward with planning, they’ll have access to our collected information and your opinions. We’ll make sure they do. We’ll keep our eyes and ears open for you as well.
Here are the links to the documents used in writing this novel.
Downtown Evanston January Board Meeting Minutes
Evanston Economic Development Committee February Meeting Packet
Evanston Economic Development Committee February Meeting Minutes
