Lettuce for the Greenway
THERE IS an effort afoot to create a year-round indoor-outdoor public food market on a par with Seattle's Pike Place, but Bostonians can't eat ambitious plans. This summer and fall, the city needs a lively farmers' market in the downtown area, preferably in Dewey Square across from heavily-traversed South Station.
For the past few years, the nonprofit Boston Public Market Association has been scouting locations for farmers' markets in the hope of bringing fresh food and new energy to the city. Its farm stands on the Northern Avenue Bridge during the summers of 2005 and 2006 were a great complement to that section of the waterfront. But vendors complained that there was too little foot traffic to satisfy sales, according to Howard Leibowitz, the market association's former director. A second location took root along the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway at Dewey Square starting in the spring of 2006. That market, which runs through the fall, has been deemed a success by both sellers and customers. That's why news that the farm stands would not open this summer left a bad taste in so many mouths.
The farmers' market at Dewey Square got derailed over a $19,000 bill for police details. This is not, however, a case of questionable police details that might be easily handled by a civilian flagger. The safe loading and unloading of produce trucks requires the temporary closing of a lane on Atlantic Avenue just north of Summer Street. That requires a police officer to control traffic. But the small market association could no longer absorb the cost. And efforts to find an alternate delivery route between Summer and Congress streets that would not require police details also failed.
If such a relatively small sum could upset plans for such an important public space along the Greenway, what hope is there for future programming along the swath of parkland that runs from Chinatown to the North End? The situation highlights the need to find a reliable way to manage land that is owned by the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, programmed by the nonprofit Greenway Conservancy, and affected so heavily by Boston traffic laws and labor union contracts.
The dilemma, says Leibowitz, is "like a pop-up falling between three infielders."
Conservancy director Nancy Brennan says there could be a "new factor" in the coming days that will allow for the reopening of the Dewey Square market. That would be heartening. But the Conservancy is going to need a permanent fund for the small details that will invariably pop up along the Greenway.
