There are some serious greens in a knot over in Sonoma.
In a whirlwind of “he said, she said”, city leaders are in the process of potentially showing the long-time managers of Sonoma’s weekly farm market the door. Meanwhile, the managers counter that the leaders have some sort of hidden agenda going on.
At the heart are complaints about which vendors are getting prime space, or spaces at all, versus those left out in the cold.
PD reporter Lori Carter susses out the details in a recent article here. Among the tasty tidbits:
“At community meetings since the issue arose this fall, after the
market’s end in October, some vendors have complained about its
perceived secretive management choices involving where certain booths
are placed and whether board members who have booths are being given
preferential treatment.”Continuing the weirdness, Carter’s article continues… “Jamie O’Brien, owner of Aztec Dahlias in Petaluma, said he has been
told he can only bring two buckets of blooms because others — including
board members — also sell flowers. “Five or six of the board
members are vendors themselves, which is very skewed,” O’Brien said.
“If somebody comes along that is competing with the board members, they
won’t let them in.”
Yeowch. Can’t we all just get along for the sake of the strawberries and collards?
It seems that there should be rules in place that board members are not allowed to hold market spaces dueto of conflict of interest. What do the by laws read? If the board isn’t willing to share the gold, at the next vote, they’ll be gone and possibly they won’t be allowed to have a space. Do unto others…
Sorry to see another market going through this. Years ago this sort of thing almost ended the one at the Veteran’s Building. Hope this one ends better.