Farmers Market, Stay in Place

I am adding my voice to what I hope is an overwhelmingly persuasive chorus in favor of keeping this amazing community asset right where it is.

Accessibility — No other markets begin to match its straightforward ingress/egress to vendor aisles and parking. For those using walkers, wheelchairs, or canes, no other market is so feasible.

Abundance — One stop provides fresh produce, eggs, poultry, meats, dairy, fish, baked goods, flowers, plants, nuts, juices, pastas, jellies, jams, and herbs. Profusion and quality are unequaled — ask our chefs and caterers.

Senior Guardian — Moving here at 84, Mom sought a toehold via church, bridge — and this market. She delighted in the access, quality and kindly interest from vendors and patrons. This market clearly helped her age in place. Today, it helps others.

Patrons care deeply about organic food, sustainably produced by growers who share the commitment to a greener, healthier world. This market also offers a unique shared experience, with simplicity, efficiency, reliability, and kindness worth treasuring. Allowing its demise in this location means contributing to yet more diminishing of downtown’s vibrancy. We can’t afford it.

I want to believe this market will survive if ousted from the place that has worked so well, but hear of unhappy endings caused by other cities’ assumptions that their markets could simply be plopped into new slots.

Surely there is another solution, though it appears that the two sites under review are fait accompli. I am betting officials will favor displacing this market over putting the Louise Lowry Davis site to a vote.

I am all in favor of our police being properly housed. They do an exceptional job of serving us all and deserve the best. But not at the expense of a market that has also served so many for so many years — and exceptionally well.