Every Tuesday, from 2 to 7 p.m., families and folks of all ages fill Bayard south of Garnet for the Pacific Beach Farmers Market.
I love the market – fresh strawberries and crimini mushrooms from Rodney, delicate salanova lettuce from Anthony and ripe avocados at many booths. You’ll find moms pushing baby strollers, tourists and locals, enjoying acoustic music while munching purchases.
It’s fun, friendly and safe. But “pedestrian safety” is cited by Beautiful PB as a main reason to relocate to Garnet, from Mission Boulevard to Cass, which seems odd. Sometimes, after my husband and I finished our shopping, we’d walk back on the sidewalk. But you can’t do that on Garnet – too many trip hazards, from illegal A-frame signs to clothes racks – plus ducking skate-boarders and bicyclists zooming by.
We’re told the move has “100 percent support of the vendors.” My quick survey: Three said yes, three didn’t know about it and five didn’t want it moved, saying they loved the ambiance. “You’ll ruin that feeling if you move it,” said one farmer.
Remember, Tuesday is “Taco Tuesday” in PB, when our bars offer drink specials. While the 900 block, from Bayard to Cass, has many new community-friendly shops (not one smoke shop or tattoo parlor!), the 800 block has popular Backyard Kitchen & Tap and a huge hole once occupied by PB Bar & Grill. The new bar will likely have outdoor dining.
Picture a warm summer Tuesday, after 5 p.m., when sound rises from the bars. Forget acoustic music. Would you want to sell strawberries over that noise?
Unlike other farmers markets, ours is smack in the middle of the high-crime bar district. Other markets don’t have half the county’s 20-somethings headed in to party until 2 a.m. And that changes the picture.
Reporter Dave Schwab covered Pacific Beach Planning Group’s vote on the issue. Somehow, I didn’t make myself clear. I was quoted as expecting a “permanent block party in those two blocks.” No, I don’t foresee immediate wild activity with a market relocation.
However, this is step one. The goal of Beautiful PB is to close that area to traffic permanently – and that’s a major problem. After 1:30 a.m., hundreds of bar-goers converge at the 7-Eleven, Grand Avenue and Mission Boulevard. Why squeeze into a parking lot when two blocks would be available?
We’re told that two of the City’s worst intersections for pedestrian accidents are Cass and Garnet and Mission Boulevard and Garnet. SDPD stats show six accidents in six months – but four were between 10 p.m. and 12:45 a.m., not market hours.
If Beautiful PB wants to improve pedestrian safety daily, please help remove encroachments from Garnet’s sidewalks via the PROW (Public Right of Way) program. But leave the farmers market on Bayard. Eve Anderson is a long-time member of the Pacific Beach Planning Group and a former columnist for the Beach & Bay Press.