When the Friday farmers market moved to the Village in May of 2018, it became under the control of La Mesa Village Association (LMVA) \u2014 a group of business owners that advocate for its members and market the Village through public events like the car shows, Oktoberfest, and Holidays in the Village.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we started the La Mesa Village Association, one of our main goals was to move the farmers market up to the Village, because that\u2019s what the community wanted and that\u2019s what the businesses wanted,\u201d LMVA co-chair Theresa Favro said.<\/p>\n
To get the market moved from its previous location in the Civic Center parking lot, LMVA filed a request for proposal (RFP) from the city, which was approved by the City Council under the caveat that the permit to operate the market would be reviewed after six months. At the six-month review, city staff reported on the market\u2019s progress. That staff report showed a market that was far more successful than the one at the Civic Center in terms of vendors; that parking wasn\u2019t as much of an issue as anticipated; and that it was very popular with La Mesa residents and people visiting the Village. The report also showed a clear divide among businesses in the Village, with some reporting net losses of revenue and others reporting net gains during the market.<\/p>\n
To address the divide, the City Council renewed the permit for another six months but tasked city staff with looking at different options for the market, including moving the day or the location as well as tweaks to the setup that might benefit brick-and-mortar businesses affected by the market. Staff was also to facilitate arbitration between the LMVA and the businesses opposed to the market to come up with compromises.<\/p>\n
Alternative options<\/strong><\/p>\n At the March 26 City Council meeting, City Manager Yvonne Garrett presented staff-recommended options for changes to the farmers market based on meetings with businesses, the community and the LMVA.<\/p>\n Option one was to keep the farmers market on La Mesa Boulevard on Fridays with certain conditions. Staff had seven suggested recommendations and LMVA agreed to the first five:<\/p>\n Move street-closure time from 1:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. to allow more lunch business in the Village.<\/p>\n Create short-term passenger drop-off zones on Allison Avenue, Fourth Street and Palm Avenue for ease of access to service businesses and restaurants.<\/p>\n Request LMVA use funds from market to promote the Village outside of La Mesa. LMVA committed to put $1,000 a month toward marketing through social media, print and signs.<\/p>\n Remove banners from back of vendor booths for more visibility of brick and mortars.<\/p>\n Invert the booths so market visitors would stroll between booths and brick-and-mortar businesses. This recommendation proved impossible, however.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we discovered was, the feasibility of inversion presented a challenge due to the required width of the drive aisles in the middle of the market footprint,\u201d Garret said.<\/p>\n The short time to load in means that the booths couldn\u2019t be back to back because vehicles would need to pass the ones that are loading in. And if the booths were facing the businesses but pushed against the sidewalks, that would create a safety hazard and also be \u201cproblematic for the brick-and-mortar establishments.\u201d The city determined inversion was \u201cnot in the best interest of vendors, businesses or customers,\u201d Garrett said.<\/p>\n Reduce the number of hot-food vendors. The market currently has six that don\u2019t offer the same food as eateries on the boulevard. \u201cBut the perception is they are competitive with restaurants,\u201d Garrett said.<\/p>\n Resume shuttle service and require vendors to park at the Civic Center. LMVA supported the parking move but offering shuttle service was cost-prohibitive without sponsorship.<\/p>\n Staff\u2019s second option was to move the market\u2019s location. Staff looked at four locations and determined that Lemon, Palm and Allison avenues are not large enough for the current size of the market and a move to either of those streets would also not solve parking issues. Staff determined that returning the market to the Civic Center location would provide the most parking and be the least impactful on businesses. However, the LMVA would no longer sponsor the market if it returned there and the city would need to resume sponsorship and contract a manager. A fourth location became available when Grossmont Center offered to host the market in their parking lot, but during discussion, the City Council agreed that location would likely not bring the same number of visitors or vendors as the current market.<\/p>\n City staff also explored moving the market to another day of week, but did not recommend it because it would likely cause the market to fail due to a lack of vendors who are already committed to other markets on other days of the week.<\/p>\n Boon or bust?<\/strong><\/p>\n Before the council voted on the staff recommendations, businesses both for and against the Friday market stated their cases to either keep or reject the LMVA\u2019s permit to operate it.<\/p>\n \u201cMost of the big restaurants and several of the retailers like myself are still suffering greatly. The farmers market has been very bad for us,\u201d said Maxwell\u2019s House of Books owner Craig Maxwell. \u201cWe really do believe that no solution that amounts to anything less than moving the event or changing the day will be sufficient.\u201d<\/p>\n Por Favor Mexican Restaurant owner Lupe Marrujo described the market as \u201cdestructive\u201d to her business because she no longer gets reservations for Friday dinners. \u201cAnd the farmers market is not bringing enough people to replace what I have lost. It hurts,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n A downturn in Friday business is not universal in the Village, however, and other store and restaurant owners report the opposite \u2014 that the market has been a boon for them.<\/p>\n \u201cNow we have something that is a gift, in my opinion. We have this huge exposure that goes on,\u201d said Brenda Leek, a partner in Curbside Eatery. \u201cCurbside is thriving on Fridays, lunch and dinner. We can\u2019t take a reservation because we\u2019re full.\u201d<\/p>\n Fourpenny House owner Peter Soutowood said the farmers market was damaging to his lunchtime business, but he adapted and capitalized on what the market offered by getting a booth in the market to sell breads and improve his restaurant\u2019s visibility.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the few hours that we have from market time until close, we make more money on Friday than we do on Saturday opening at 11 a.m. or Sunday opening at 9 a.m.,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a business owner, it has been very interesting to me to see the farmers market both in terms as what it has done for our visibility and taking a challenge, which was the loss of lunch time. Numbers wise, there are a lot of things that affect our business and in aggregate, the market has been fantastic for us.\u201d<\/p>\n Soutowood also spoke on behalf of the LMVA\u2019s members.<\/p>\n \u201cWe at LMVA are fully in support of the farmers market where it is,\u201d he said. \u201cWe understand that it\u2019s a good thing for the Village, which is why we are listening to our members and trying to advocate for them.\u201d<\/p>\n In an interview after the council meeting, Favro, who owns retail shop Amethyst Moon, reported that her Friday business is up threefold and other retailers on La Mesa Boulevard like Act II are also experiencing a windfall during the market.<\/p>\n A difficult vote<\/strong><\/p>\n After hearing comments, the City Council debated the staff recommendations.<\/p>\n Councilmember Kristine Alessio entered a motion to end the market and put out an RFP to \u201cfind an entity or group that will make it better\u201d and move the market to another day or location.<\/p>\n Councilmember Bill Baber seconded the motion, and said he was disappointed that no compromises were agreed on between the LMVA and the other businesses. Specifically, Baber cited the LMVA board\u2019s decision to reject the city staff\u2019s recommendation to eliminate or reduce hot-food vendors, describing it as a \u201cWaterloo moment.\u201d<\/p>\n Soutowood said the board unanimously voted down the recommendation, even though a lot of the members present were restaurant owners.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of them said they wanted to exclude that,\u201d he said. \u201cPart of that was the principle of throttling back of any businesses being able to come in and have a go of it. Part of it was the complete difference in products \u2014 walking-around food versus sitting down to dine.\u201d<\/p>\n Councilmember Dr. Akilah Weber expressed concern over the lack of compromise between the businesses.<\/p>\n \u201cI haven\u2019t seen any change,\u201d she said. \u201cThe market as it is today is pretty much the same as it was six months ago, three months ago. The same discussion has been going on. So people have to give and take.\u201d<\/p>\n Councilmember Colin Parent offered up an alternative motion to keep the market where and when it is but impose some of the staff recommendations as a requisite of the permit. Mayor Mark Arapostathis seconded the motion but added that all the recommendations should be required, including the shuttle service and eliminating all hot-food vendors from the market. The substitute motion failed to gain support of the other three council members and was rejected in a 2\u20133 vote.<\/p>\n Before the vote on Alessio\u2019s motion, it was amended to allow for RFPs to include the current time and location and to extend the current market through July after Parent pointed out that without some extension, the market would close at the end of April. He also predicted that a new RFP process would do little to change the division over the farmers market.<\/p>\n \u201cI think best case scenario, the Village Association makes an alternative application and it\u2019s going to look a lot like the current application, maybe with some of the concessions we discussed in the substitute motion, and no one else is going to apply to do this event,\u201d Parent said. \u201cThat\u2019s what I think is going to happen. And I think if they do that \u2014 by the way, I hope that they do \u2014 I think it\u2019s not going to solve peace in the Village.\u201d<\/p>\n If that happens, Parent added, the council should prepare themselves for an even more difficult vote between upsetting some business owners against the market or upsetting other business owners and a majority of residents who support the market.<\/p>\n The council then voted unanimously on Alessio\u2019s amended motion.<\/p>\n Market reaction<\/strong><\/p>\n After the vote, Soutowood said the LMVA board would likely redo its RFP and propose a market with some of the recommendations on Fridays in the Village.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no market if you switch days and times,\u201d he said, adding that without the income generated by the market, LMVA would stop existing and the city or another organization would have to step in to hold Oktoberfest, the car shows, Holidays in the Village and any other event.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to try and continue to put on events in the Village \u2014 that\u2019s what we\u2019re in the business of doing. Every event is going to have effects on the public, it\u2019s going to have effects on parking, it\u2019s going to have effects on local businesses,\u201d he said, but added that the famers market has become a \u201cstraw man\u201d for shortcomings of businesses in the Village.<\/p>\n \u201cI could use it as a straw man myself and say I didn\u2019t have a good Friday because of the farmers market, but to correlate any ebbs and flows of a business with an event that happens just on Fridays is just about impossible,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd if the market went away completely, would we see those businesses that have been struggling all of a sudden spring up like phoenixes and do amazing business? I highly doubt it.\u201d<\/p>\n Favro questioned the rationale behind the vote.<\/p>\n \u201cHow are we getting this taken away from us when it\u2019s this successful? It just baffles me,\u201d<\/p>\n she said, and pointed to city staff\u2019s own reports of the success of the market.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve done surveys, they surveyed all the businesses, they\u2019ve done a PowerPoint presentation,\u201d she said. \u201cThey even refunded our money back that we put in for cost recovery. They refunded it back because all their data on the parking meters said it didn\u2019t affect the parking so out of $4,500 we gave them in the beginning, they gave us $3,800 back.\u201d \u201cAt this point, it shouldn\u2019t be this hard to put on free events for the community \u2014 it should be easy,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t understand why it has to be this way. It should be, \u2018Thanks you guys for volunteering. Thanks for putting up your own personal money. Thanks for taking time away from your family and your business.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n In the Friday markets since the March 26 vote, Favro has begun a signature-gathering campaign to show support for keeping the Friday market going in the Village. So far, she has collected over 1,000 signatures.<\/p>\n Daniel Pitard is a La Mesa resident who signed to support the market. He and his daughter attend every Friday, he said, but never went to the Civic Center location. He described the council vote as \u201cbrutal\u201d and has gotten active in trying to keep the market where it is.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve written letters to City Council. I\u2019ve emailed people. I\u2019ve talked to the mayor when he was down here for the event,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not fair that they are making it hard for all of us. We want to have this great place to be.\u201d<\/p>\n Pitard also pointed out that every business that supports the market is packed during market hours and only the ones that are against it are struggling, a point that Favro thinks is fueled by discussions about the market on social media.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m hearing talk about boycotting people\u2019s businesses,\u201d she said. \u201cPlease don\u2019t boycott any businesses. If people have a legitimate reason to be against the market, they have every right to voice their opinion. Don\u2019t voice that you want everybody to boycott them, they work as hard as everybody else.\u201d<\/p>\n Brian Beevers, market manager for the Friday markets, was also surprised that the City Council did not vote to renew the permit. He said the market has shown incredible success in terms of numbers in the one year that it has operated in the Village.<\/p>\n \u201cLa Mesa is now a sought-after market. There\u2019s people coming from all over to shop here and there are vendors who can\u2019t wait to get into this market,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of communities would love to have what La Mesa has right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Beevers said that moving the market to another day like Wednesday could still succeed but in a much \u201cless impactful way\u201d because there would be a lot less vendors and a lot less people.<\/p>\n Beevers also said that very few brick-and-mortar businesses have taken advantage of ways to utilize the market that he offers like setting up a booth or signing up for his text campaign that goes out to thousands of other businesses. He doesn\u2019t think the market is the reason why some businesses struggle.<\/p>\n \u201cThe City Council needs to evaluate why certain things are being blamed on the market,\u201d he said. \u201cFor example, the market has exponentially more people on Friday than there would be otherwise. And we know that a good percentage of people are coming from out of town. If I were a business, I\u2019d be like there\u2019s no other time I could be able to tap into brand-new business than right here right now at this market.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the market goes, all those people go,\u201d he continued. \u201cThey don\u2019t come anymore, so that is a lost opportunity for every business on this street.\u201d<\/p>\n Beevers said he will continue to work to make the market grow to the benefit of all the businesses in the Village.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d be sad to lose something I put my heart and soul into,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u00bfQue sigue?<\/strong><\/p>\n By the end of April, the city will issue its farmers market RFP through the purchasing portal called PlanetBids.<\/p>\n It is unclear how many bids the city will get, besides the LMVA. Grossmont Center may bid to move the market to its parking lot. The La Mesa Chamber of Commerce has said it will look at the RFP to see if it is worth pursuing, but added that there is no definite plan to take over the market. Other market managers may bid to start a new market.<\/p>\n According to the City Clerk\u2019s office, interested market managers or organizations should register on PlanetBids to be automatically notified when the RFP is published. All questions about the RFP should be asked through the portal so potential respondents can see both the question and the city\u2019s response.<\/p>\n Submittals in response to the RFP will only be accepted in digital format through the PlanetBids portal. Questions about the process can be answered by La Mesa Purchasing Officer Scott Munzenmaier at 619-667-1113 or by email at smunzenmaier@ci.la-mesa.ca.us<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Farmers](\"https:\/\/lamesacourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/farmers-market-jump.jpg\")
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\nFavro also said that the LMVA would cease to exist and that business owners like herself would stop volunteering at events.<\/p>\n