[George Frantz:]
| The Lancaster Central Market building covers an area about the
| size of the Tompkins County Library, and Reading Terminal Market
| is about twice that size (albeit underneath a convention center.)
| Both are enclosed buildings that operate year [round].
That's what I think we should be building -- an enclosed,
year-round facility that would replace most of what currently
occupies the center of the Commons. In other words, a real
traditional central market. A wholesale replacement of the
current layout is already under discussion by the City, so this
isn't as radical as it sounds; the question is whether it would
work logistically.
| Whereas Wegmans can rely on tractor trailers to deliver large
| quantities of goods, a central market needs to accommodate many,
| many small delivery vehicles to supply the individual vendors that
| would be housed there. Although they would likely be arriving
| before 6:00 AM, introducing large numbers of such vehicles to
| downtown Ithaca could be problematic.
I doubt that the number of vehicles needed for deliveries would be
greater than (or even close to) the number that already come into
Ithaca at rush hour as people arrive for work. If most of the
delivery vehicles arrived from 4 to 6 a.m. and left before 7, I
don't think there would be a problem. We could designate all the
parking spaces on the streets immediately adjacent to the Commons
as loading zones during those hours to make sure deliveries got in
and out quickly and that all the spaces were available for that
purpose.
| The other issue is the customer traffic that would be generated.
| At any given time on any Saturday at the Farmers' Market there are
| as many as 300-350 cars parked in the parking lot and along the
| various streets as far back toward Route 13 as Carpenter
| Drive. (versus 25-30 parked bikes) A successful central market
| would generate that amount of parking demand or more in terms of
| parking demand, in a downtown area that is already near or over
| capacity with regard to parking.
As Tom Shelley and Andy Goodell have observed, downtown parking
structures are currently underutilized. A central market might
actually justify the investment the City made in them.
But really I think this misses the point. For people who want to
drive in once a week for a farmers' market, we've already got one
of those. The primary purpose of a central market would be to
serve the daily needs of people who actually live in the city and
could get there on foot, by bicycle, or by bus. Among other
advantages, a central market would finally fill the vacuum left by
the exit of grocery stores from downtown.
| Because Lancaster is a compactly built, colonial era city, it has
| a population density of about 2.5 times that of Ithaca (the city).
| That puts some 20,000-25,000 residents within a ten minute walk of
| Central Market and as a result it generates little in the way of
| automobile traffic. On the other hand in Ithaca there is only in
| the range of 5,000-7,000 residents within a ten minute walk of
| downtown and a potential market. (Yes, density, density,
| density...)
The market will have to be scaled to the surrounding population,
but I don't think that its customer base will be limited to people
within a 10 minute walk. Bus service within the city is quite
good, and for much of the year, bicycles are a practical option.
The use of transportation modes other than the car is determined
largely by the options available; by creating a workable shopping
center downtown, we would be expanding those options
significantly. I think Tom Shelley has this right:
The downtown location would encourage walking and biking over
driving for many. It certainly would for me. And I think this
location would still draw traffic to the Commons which would be
one of the economic advantages of a downtown Farmers'
Market.
Another factor that needs to be taken into account here is the
strong likelihood that private automobile traffic will decrease as
it becomes more expensive and people have less disposable income.
The central market concept arose from the need to have
distribution close to population centers, and it fits this future
perfectly.
| My sense is that a location close to Route 13 on the Northside,
| West End or Southwest areas would work better than a downtown
| location.
I don't see this as a meaningful improvement over what we've
already got.
| Finally, it should indeed be a publcily owned market. Parking
| garages after all can be publicly owned and subsidized, so why not
| a central market?
I completely agree. The City should build it and rent out the
space. Again, I would remind everyone that the City is *already*
facing an expensive building project as it puts the Commons back
together after doing required work on water and sewer mains. It
would be to the economic advantage of the City to make what it
builds a revenue center rather than a cost center.
| This doesn't mean that an outdoor farmer's market should not be
| pursued for the Commons, but I personally hesitate at the thought
| of a permanent structure with 100+ vendors open 3 or more days per
| week in the downtown area.
Make that a permanent structure with 100+ vendors open *all* week
and you've got something I wouldn't hesitate over for a second.
But possibly that's because I've already seen such a thing working
in places that have far fewer resources than we do.
Jon
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