EDITOR’S NOTE: The 19-year-old Hollywood Farmers’ Market will go on as usual Sunday morning though its future is in serious jeopardy because of City Hall’s policies that prompted officials to deny it a permit to operate any longer. Community protests won it a month’s reprieve A Save the Hollywood Farmers’ Market Coalition has formed and will stage a rally at 9 a.m. Tuesday on the City Hall Lawn and then express the concerns of citizens from across LA to the City Council at 9 a.m. Save Farmers Market.pdf South Central Farmers.doc Action Alert and Sample Protest Letter.
This is story about a controversy that contains many of the elements of what’s wrong in Los Angeles, a story of a dirty deal to benefit a sleazy developer and not the public, a story of two valuable institutions on a collision course, a story about the indifference and ineffectiveness of public officials.
It is a story that epitomizes both the corruption and the failure of City Hall.
It is the story in a single particular — one that is occurring all over the city — because of policies of the mayor and City Council and their gross financial mismanagement that has prompted them to close parks and libraries and slash other basic services while raising rates, fees and fines sharply.
One of their policies — the one that threatens community events everywhere — is the new law that makes farmers’ markets that
block off city streets pay all city costs for street services, cops and everything else and to obtain permission from nearby residents and businesses to even get a permit.
This is part of the mayor’s “full cost recovery” policy that is making taxpayers pay twice if they get city services and even charges city departments like parks and libraries for everything they get from water and power to office and personnel costs.
Exemptions are made, of course, whenever and wherever our elected officials decide to put the public’s money.
One such case, the El Sereno Farmers’ Market, is set on Tuesday to get such an exemption when the Council approves providing $15,000 in public money to keep it going.
The Hollywood Farmers’ Market is not so lucky. The future of many other similar markets and community events of all sorts are also in doubt.
One of the oldest, largest and best farmers’ markets in LA, the one at Selma and Ivar in Hollywood has been operating every Sunday morning for 19 years with 150 farmers, artisans, cooks and bakers..
It is a major community event, drawing crowds of 10,000 people most Sundays.
From the recent massive increase imposed on the thousands of people who grow food in the city’s nine community farms, you might think City Hall is at war against fresh and wholesome food.
But last week, the Council made it the official policy of the city that “food deserts” like the one in parts of South LA, will not be tolerated. New fast food restaurantswill not be allowed any longer in South LA within half a mile of each other and Fresh & Easy won approval to open a new market despite vocal community opposition to granting a series of variances from zoning laws.
You might think the same healthy choice sensibility shown by Jan Perry and Bernard Parks in getting those ordinance passed would be shown by Council President Eric Garcetti, whose political correctness could never be questioned.
But Garcetti isn’t into good food and community vitality as much as providing tax breaks to Hollywood enterprises, subsidies to Hollywood developers and pleasing his patrons among the union leaders and big shots who he hopes will generously fund his campaign for mayor in two years. .
He has has three years to find a solution to the dilemma of the Hollywood Farmers Market but last month it was denied a city permit to operate any longer.
Community protests won it a reprieve through the holidays but it’s run at Selma and Ivar is over come Jan.1, 2011 unless a solution is found and City Hall backs down. At best, it will be moved and reduced in size by half. At worst, it will be gone entirely.
The obstacle facing the Hollywood Farmers’ Market isn’t the requirement of double taxation imposed on it for the cost of what should be basic community services but the necessity to get of its neighboring residents and business — one business in particular.
In closing off part of Selma and Ivar, the Farmers’ Market limits access to the LA Film School’s parking.
The school says it is flourishing and is now operating seven days a week so it needs full access to all its parking, which means Ivar can no longer be closed off for the market. LAFILMSCHOOL.doc
The result is city officials refused to grant a street closure permit for this Sunday’s market, relenting only when the protests grew loud enough to force them to grant a reprieve for the holiday season.
The city has offered alternatives near and far but none provide the space or amenities that have from nearly two decades at Selma and Ivar. Nor is sharply reducing the market’s size at its current location acceptable to the non-profit Sustainable Economic Enterprises of Los Angeles which operates the Hollywood and several other farmers’ markets whose future could be in doubt because of the loss of revenue…
“Losing
this portion of Ivar could result in a loss of fifty-percent
of the certified farmers and a reduction of approximately
one third of the total vendors. It cannot be reconfigured
within the existing neighborhood without multiple ramifications
- including the possibility of losing the Farmers’
Market in its entirety,” the group says at its website..
“Setting
up a farmers’ market is not simply an issue of moving
a few tents and tables, but is logistically complex,
with many public safety issues involved. Current proposals
for shifting the market provide inadequate space for
the displaced farmers and vendors, raise issues of public
safety or both.”
What elevates this beyond just another of a thousand examples of the city’s inability or unwillingness to intervene in conflicts and provide solutions that satisfy competing needs and values is what is going on just a short block from the Farmer’s Market.
At 1601 N. Vine, at the corner of Selma, is the property that Councilman Eric Garcetti is desperately trying to give away developer Hal Katersky and his Pacifica Ventures, a company that specializes in profiteering on runaway film and TV production.
Give away is an understatement. Garcetti, a man who would be mayor, wants to give Katersky and his partner a $4.6 million gift of public money from the Community Redevelopment Agency to put up a $57 million building that nobody wants or needs.
Twelve times in six months, Garcetti has tried to push the deal through the Council and 12 times he has had to pull it, admitting recently that the serious questions raised by the community must be answered before it will be approved.
Despite bankruptcies and lawsuits, Katersky’s firm has profited from setting up film production studios from Alquerque to Prague where governments are more than happy to steal Hollywood jobs.
If the Council President had put as much effort into solving the market’s problem and cared as much about healthy food and a community activity enjoyed by 10,000 people a week as he does about serving corporate interests, this controversy would have been averted and the problem solved long ago and people would not be coming down to City Hall on Tuesday to protest.
Anonymous 
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Someone should check the C/O of the Film School and see under what authority it is open 7 days a week. Most schools need Conditional Uses to open. Don’t know where a “Filmschool” fits in, but it is worth investigating.
I agree that losing this Farmers’ Market would be tragic. I’m just confused on a concept or two.The Michael Jackson memorial service required street closures, cops and the like. People were up in arms when the owner was, initially, given a pass on paying for these services. That was a one time thing. Here, however, the market is regular and people protest when such payments are expected. On the flip side, the Farrah Fawcett memorial services was a special event (at the same time as the MJ one) and required payment for city services.
Clearly, the inconsistencies are egregious.
My point, however, is let’s assume the City was consistent. I know that’s quite a stretch; but, let’s just go with this for a moment. If the City were to be consistent, it would make sense to expect such services to be paid for from the Farmers’ Market people, the El Sereno Farmers’ Market and the MJ event.
Now, I agree that the City has engaged in double taxation in numerous areas of their dealings and they should be taken to task on that. However, is it double taxation when additional services are needed for something like this-much like the Farrah Fawcett of MJ event?
Perhaps, with the Farmers’ Market, a waiver should be given since anyone can participate in it (do vendors have to pay someone to do so?) and a majority of folks support it versus the MJ event when one person seemed to profit (though I guess it did employ some folks) and many were miffed by it. Of course, that might have been due to the waiver (and the commercialism it took on).
So, I’m just a little confused and trying to sort out what’s fair–when fees should be waived, when they shouldn’t and whether all of these fees are double taxation or truly cost recovery. Oh, and are the words “cost recovery” actually double taxation? If not–when is it and when is it not?
“The Analects of Confucius”
Wei Zheng:
The Master said, “He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place and all the stars turn towards it.”
In a weird way, this is good news…the more those 10,000 people spread the word about what the city did to this great institution, the more people will get what’s really happening downtown. It could help reduce the chances that two-faced Garcetti even makes it into the run-off!
Meanwhile, I am just trying to figure out what’s really up with that area…is there something major in the development pipeline that Garcetti is protecting?
According to THE VOICE COMMUNITY NEWS the Boyle Heights Farmers Market just received $25,000 from the CRA about two months ago.
Garcetti is a fraud. We all have to work together to unveil his venal and manipulative ways so that he will not run.
Ugly ugly ugly.
Maybe, this is a real world illustration of the problem of high density brought to the area without providing sufficient parking. Think of the irony: this location has the subways and bus lines that the mayor and his planning people think the rest of the city needs. How’s it working?
“The Los Angeles Times reports that Planning Commissioner Mike Woo, who chairs the board of the group that runs the Hollywood market, has an idea that he believes might remedy the situation. Whether or not that’s doable is unclear. Woo believes “the film school could obtain additional parking spaces if it knocked down a wall in its own garage”, as reported in Curbed LA.
Woo, the same Planning Commissioner, who won’t allow any development to be approved till they knock off half the required parking spaces is now trying to be the arbiter of how to produce the needed parking. Ironic!