Jump Step

"You can't steal second base with your foot on first."
                         
 ___ probably, Zig Ziglar


The proposal to move the New Albany Farmer's Market from it's current site at Bank and Market Streets to the City-owned parking garage at Market and State Streets was run up the flagpole, here, last Friday. While it has not been universally saluted with the honorific forehead salute, neither has it received an abundance of one-finger salutes.

Assurance was given that at Tuesday's Board of Works meeting the awarding of contracts was to be withheld, pending discussion of other options for funding the market's makeover.

The Farmer's Market has an enviable record of success at its current location. I applaud and support the efforts of those who have brought it to this juncture. But, New Albany has likewise reached a juncture. One where we can embrace the efforts of those who have led the entrepreneurial resurgence of the downtown. Stretch the economic development canvas so as to paint a brighter future for downtown. Or, we can  hunker down, stay on the same path, and recoil from something untried and new.

The appropriated sum of $270,000, which the City Council approved in this year's budget was found to be an insufficient amount to cover the plans for the market's expansion at its current site. That fiscal insufficiency proved to be a key which has opened a broader discussion of the market, its hold on the current location and what the market means to New Albany's revival, as well as the value, recognized or not, of the oversight function of the City Council. Not a few Council members felt the project landed on our table fully formed, with little or no consultation or review by the Council, beyond the initial assent to the mayor's budget. While any individual Council member stands lower than the Mayor in the governance pyramid of this City, as a body we stand more as equals.

I support the Farmer's Market's expansion. I simply am not sold on its expansion at the current site. As I stated previously, I see several reasons why a move to the parking garage would be a good one for the market's future.

If we continue with the market at the current site, I would suggest that it be the City's policy to actively promote that property for a return to tax-paying status by seeking qualified developers to envision a use for the property, a vision in line with its strategic placement in the downtown. The right development of the property, currently occupied by the Farmer's Market, can aid greatly the entrepreneurial renewal of the downtown, keeping it on track and moving forward. And the current market should be allowed to stay at the site, if those in charge wish it so, but at the current footprint, with no expansion, while the City actively pursues higher and greater uses for the property. If the pursuit of a developer yields nothing worthwhile within a reasonable time frame then we could proceed with the market's expansion at that site. Implicit in that plan is the understanding that if a strong enough developer wished to pursue a project on that site, those plans would still come to fruition, albeit at a higher cost to the developer.

If the people who have led the market to its current success see fit to move to the parking garage, they should know that it would be possible to open half of Market Street, out to the median, in front of the garage for market shoppers/visitors, while still keeping the street on the other side of the median open to traffic. The market space under roof, by using only the level, un-sloped surface of the garage on the street level would be at least double the current space under roof at the Bank street location. The installation of electrical hookups, and sanitary facilities would not deplete the appropriated amount of $270,000, so there would still be some significant amount of money available for the enhancement of the market in its new location. There would be money to offer something like a bicycle rickshaw to move shoppers and their purchases back to their cars, for example.  And there would be no effort overhanging the market to find a buyer for the site.

When I originally proposed the garage as a site for the market it was done as a reaction to the higher cost the Council was being asked to agree to. But, since that idea was originally voiced, I 've come to believe there are stronger reasons than cost alone supporting a move of the market to the garage. And I believe those reasons would work to the long term benefit of the Farmer's Market as a valuable, sustainable, and important part of the downtown's current success. All while setting the table for infill growth at the corner of Bank and Market Streets, which can further advance the revitalization of our city.