The organizers of the impending North Beach Farmers Market are hosting a community meeting at 6pm Tuesday at the San Francisco Italian Athletic Club, 1630 Stockton St., and have also started a Change.org petition titled "Support a Farmers Market in North Beach." As of Friday morning, it had more than 300 signatures.
The idea for a market grew after the board of directors of North Beach Neighbors (NBN) formed a committee and did an online neighborhood survey, which showed strong support for one. They reached out to Agricultural Institute of Marin (AIM), which manages seven other markets in the city, and they now have 150 farmers interested in the 50 available stalls. AIM plans to debut the market in early May on Saturday mornings along Green Street between Columbus and Grant avenues, providing they get approval for the street closure.
Photo: Google Street View.
Trish Herman of NBN told us the online petition is part of the process for showing support to the city staff committee that approves street closures. Danny Sauter, another organizer, emailed us to say, "We're really blown away by the level of support so far. So many of the comments on the petition are so enthusiastic and speak volumes about the demand in the neighborhood for the market. It's very encouraging to see!"
However, Kathleen Dooley of the North Beach Business Association said some business owners along that strip want to make sure they can get deliveries. It's a stretch heavy with restaurants and bars. "I know a few of the businesses have concerns, but I’ve noticed that a lot of them are not open during the day," Dooley said. "Perhaps it is the best spot. I just want to make sure that everyone is happy and can do their business, too."
In response to the concerns, Herman said she personally plans to meet with every business on that stretch prior to Tuesday's meeting. "We’ve gotten overwhelming support for the farmers market in North Beach," she said, "so we’re working with any concerns the businesses have." She added, "In our research, we have found with the Clement Street market, it has brought more business to the neighborhood, and some businesses on Clement Street that were closed on Sunday are now open because of the traffic."
Herman also said some members of NBN met with three NBBA members on Feb. 11th to discuss the plans. "We took into consideration safety and we took into consideration the amount of businesses who are not open during the day there," she told us. She said the market has to be on a street without a bus line and long enough to hold the entire market, and Green appears to be the best venue.
