Atlanta Farmer’s Markets Surprised By Fees & Permits
Decatur Metro | May 22, 2010Apparently someone felt like they needed to teach the Atlanta farmer’s markets a lesson.
Meridith Ford Goldman writes from beyond the AJC paycheck that two formal complaints have prompted the city of Atlanta to crackdown on five of the city’s farmer’s markets (Morningside Farmers Market, East Lake Market, East Atlanta Village Market, Peachtree Road Farmers Market and SWOOM (Southwest Outdoor Organic Market).
And while the city of Atlanta has stated it wants to work with the farmer’s markets to come up with new specific regulations, for now it sounds like the new world of red-tape will result in some new fees and costs usually reserved for for-profit markets.
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City of Atlanta already shut down my biodiesel retailer (selling fuel made from recycled cooking grease).
Let’s go after farmers markets, too.
Maybe a crackdown on baking cookies for your neighbors.
Bitter, moi?
The City is being ridiculous. It reminds me of a mob shake-down. They should be encouraging farmers markets and other healthy living activities, not creating additional hurdles to their existence with silly regulations and fees. It is so backwards.
And who exactly submitted formal complaints about this? I didn’t know the Grinch had re-located to Atlanta.
It should be obvious that the City of Atlanta is so pinched for cash right now that they’re figuring putting on the shakedown for scratch any way they can get it is justified. I’m just glad we decided not to buy property there.
Yes, it should be permitted formally. But the city should make it cheap and easy. If they can afford a permit inspector, they can also afford someone to make the process easy and hassle-free for businesses they want to encourage.
Pardon the cliche, but there’s a serious failure of imagination here if they treat farmers markets the same way they treat junk yards.
Perhaps it is time we all need to communicate with our respective “leaders” that they just need to
stop!
Oppressive and unnecessary behavior !!
They seem to have forgotten that the govt is here to serve us, not us to serve (and support) them.
Remember, anytime a bureaucrat says “revenue”, they mean taxes.
Regardless of who is taxed directly, we all end up paying.
I’m not surprised. but then again i’m still bitter about the city govt shaking down backstreet endlessly until they closed
I used to shake down Backstreet! I even remember the phone number!
I LOL’ed. Then shuddered. I not only remember the phone number, I remember where you could park a block away for free!
oh the joys of backstreet. walking outside and being blinded by the sunlight, realizing its 630am and you have to run home and get ready for work
Damn that city.
I still have my old BACKSTREET membership card…before that it was a key you kept on your keyring.
ATL will not TAKE MY money for a pedicab permit? Pedicabbing is not allowed there…..Thank you, Decatur, for allowing me to ride my trike.
Why is it called a pedicab (I have awful rickshaw images) rather than a tricycle cab/ bike cab?
Atlanta doesn’t want predicabs downtown because they are slow, will tie up automobile traffic and leave droppings…
Oh wait, that describes the horse drawn carriages they do allow. Never mind.
We should be celebrating this. The hardest aspect of putting together a really good farmers market is competition with other markets over farmers.
Now that Atlanta has made it completely onerous to operate there, the Decatur market should swoop in and recruit all the best farmers. This short sighted misstep on Atlanta’s part could be exactly what we need to assemble the best market in the southeast.
Well said Scott, exactly the way to take a negative and make a positive out of it.
Yeah…there would be enough room at the Big H Center in Oakhurst…oh wait…that’s right. The owner wants 6 kazillion dollars for that property, so that won’t work.
Actually, this was one of my first thoughts too, although I felt a little guilty for thinking it! I’d love for Decatur to scavenge a few of the choice vendors at Morningside. But, then again, Morningside is so successful and established that it will likely survive even if the new rules and fees put the other smaller markets out of business. Since they have a ton of foot traffic and a long waiting list for new vendors, their current vendors will likely suck it up and pay the fees rather than leave.
The city should get out of the way and let free enterprise exist. Perhaps the city could implement a simple and inexpensive permitting process in order to make sure the markets have safe parking and don’t leave a mess behind, but other than that, Atlanta should let these micro-businesses exist. They provide a service for residents and help local farmers and entrepreneurs earn some extra cash and market exposure in the process.
Am I the only one who thinks the farmers market should have been aware of what permits were needed and ensured they had them? They are responsible. They have permits for a reason.
No, not really. The article states that the City of Atlanta has no permit process or procedures in place for farmers markets.
Backstreet…..ahhhh. Those were the days!
File this under Green With Envy, perhaps?
I emailed Ms. Goldman who kindly indicated that the source of one of the two complaints was the Atlanta Foundation for Public Spaces (http://www.affps.com). Despite its philanthropic-sounding name, according to the Georgia Secretary of State website AFPS is apparently a for-profit LLC headquartered in Roswell that manages several markets throughout the area, including the Chastain Park Green Market and the one in Virginia Highlands just down the road from the targeted Morningside farmers’ market.
And to add a nice Decatur twist to the whole affair, according to their website the “Foundation” also has some sort of ambiguous affiliation with the Decatur Gallery Market, located across the street from Sushi Avenue.
Welcome to the dog-eat-dog world of in-town markets!
why am i not surprised?