Liberty Farmers Market closed indefinitely after police(?) "raid"

Posted By CCCA Prez, 03/15/10 9:14 AM

Dear Councilmembers Evans and Wells,

I hope you will work with the local community and local merchants to help enliven our outdoor areas with farmers markets and help overcome the hurdles that let to the closure of the Liberty Farmers Market at Mt Vernon Square. In one of my last conversations with the late Miles Groves, in his home downtown, he expressed as he did many times, that it was his dream to create more lively, safe, family oriented spaces downtown and particularly at the Carnegie Library on Mt Vernon Square.

Residents enjoy farmers markets. Through the WIC program, farmers markets can also help to bring affordable, fresh and locally grown produce to area residents, who — as our nation's First Lady, Michelle Obama, has noted, need to have more access to healthy foods for a variety of health reasons. We have more merchants who sell nothing but junk food, lottery tickets and beer and alcohol that do nothing but undermine the lives of lower income residents. I don't necessarily want to see those business face greater hardship in these economic times, but we need to balance the playing field in favor of businesses that strengthen our communities from the ground up.

A market at Mt Vernon Square was also one of the few amenities in the vicinity of the Walter E Washington Convention Center for its thousands of visitors who have little to turn to in the Shaw community aside from blighted properties. This is certainly the way to welcome guests to the world class facility in the heart of the Nation's Capital.

I'm saddened and very surprised, in this instance that a "raid" was even necessary w/o just informing the principal operators by letter. We have drug dealers openly operating their "businesses" in the community with less enforcement from MPD and also owners of vacant, blighted, nuisance properties that have less to fear from our government.

Mr Evans, I hope you will have an update on this issue and what you can do to help farmers markets find a place in our local communities, when you speak at the Mt Vernon Square Neighborhood Association meeting tomorrow evening.

Thank you,

Martin Moulton

WASHINGTON, DC--Liberty Farmers Market, which opened Tuesdays last fall on the grounds of the Historical Society of Washington, DC (HSW) at Mount Vernon Square near the corner of 7th & K Sts. NW, has "been suspended indefinitely" after being raided and closed down by D. C. Government when it reopened for the season Tuesday, March 9. The suspension was announced today by Michael Berman, president of Diverse Markets Management (DMM), a D.C. firm contracted by HSW to manage the market. "We're disappointed that the effort to create quality markets at the location has been at least temporarily derailed," said Berman, who noted that the site had housed a market in the 19th Century before the building of the Carnegie Library, which now houses HSW. He said the raid involved both federal park and local police and the D.C. Department of Regulatory and Consumer Affairs, which cited permitting issues for the closure. "DMM tried to work through the issues this week but ran into a complicated maze of jurisdictional overlap," Berman said. "Unfortunately the mess will probably also derail plans to open other open air markets both at HSW and in other city neighborhoods," Berman lamented. "But we know neighborhoods want to start outdoor markets and vendors want additional locations, so we'll continue to try to work with the City."

Martin Moulton, President
Convention Center Community Assocation
CCCA-online.org | (202) 422-1161

CC: Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton's Office

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Comments

I have no words...this is crazy! we have had kooky street vendors blocking traffic hawking everything from flowers to bean pies to glow sticks to crack for YEARS and y'all close a farmer's market on opening day?! with the police? jeez thats horrid.

Posted By Si Kailian / At 3/15/10 2:55 PM

From DCRA Director Linda Argo:

Shaw, Mt. Vernon and Marion Street neighbors -

We sent this message out last night to the listservs, but I’m sending again as the misinformation regarding this past week’s event still seems to be circulating.

The event that was taking place near the corner of 7th & K streets last week was not a farmers' market. Farmers' markets are for farmers selling their own homegrown fresh products from the region and are exempt from licensing requirements for events on public space.

The event that was taking place was a collection of vendors of which very few, to our knowledge, were farmers.

Secondly, the "raid" as described in a release from the event's organizer was actually a single police officer asking for basic information about the products and for documentation giving permission to operate on the private property. The organizers could not produce any documentation. And although DCRA was not present during the event, the organizer told the police officer the food vendors were not farmers.

We have been in contact with the event organizers and have told them exactly what they need to do to continue to operate their market. They need to produce a letter giving them permission to operate at that location which will allow them to get a Certificate of Occupancy for the event, and they need to get a General Business license.

Many of the food products being sold were also products we believe were not grown by the region's farmers including Columbian coffee, oranges and other items. It is important that those vendors selling non-regional food products get a food license so the city's heath inspectors can ensure they are safe for residents. In addition to these suspect food items, the event included vendors selling t-shirts, crafts and other items not covered under the farmers' market exemption.

We are huge supporters of farmers' markets and have been lauded by D.C. Hunger Solutions and the D.C. Farmers' Market Collaborative for our efforts to simplify regulations that encourage new farmers' markets and differentiate them in regulations from other events.

We have already told this event's organizers that we will work closely with them to come into compliance with the regulations that cover the type of market they are attempting to create. But based on the products offered at this event, it would not be considered a farmer's market.

I hope this information is helpful and clears up some of the misunderstanding about this market and last week’s enforcement action.

Regards,
Linda

Linda K. Argo
Director
Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs
District of Columbia Government
941 North Capitol Street, NE, Suite 9500
Washington, DC 20002
(202) 442-8934 (phone)
(202) 442-9445 (fax)

Posted By Cary Silverman / At 3/16/10 8:12 AM