Court Square market?
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On Monday night, City Councilors discussed the possibility of moving the Charlottesville City Market from the Water Street parking lots to Court Square, reports Rachana Dixit in the Daily Progress. The popular Saturday morning outdoor market, which showcases the area’s local food artisans and craftspeople, has been held at the Water Street location for 15 years, but with as many as 100 vendors competing for space now, it’s getting a little cramped. However, Councilors initiated the discussion by talking about how unattractive the parking lot location was, and that having the market under the trees and beside the historic buildings at court Square would be a “nicer experience,” mayor Dave Norris told the DP.
However, while City Market Manager Stephanie Anderegg-Maloy told the DP she thought the Court Square location would be a more “beautiful,” she called it a logistical “nightmare.”
Indeed, as the DP story pointed out, streets would need to be closed and parking is already tight around Court Square. Then, of course, there’s the fact that the court house area is officially in Albemarle County. There was also talk of moving the market to the parking lots on McIntire Road.
Absent from the discussion was a previous discussion about developing the privately-owned Water Street parking lots (the city owns a small portion) in a way that would embrace the Market, which led to a controversial $150,000 city-sponsored design contest in 2007. The contest yielded some pretty fancy designs concepts from firms as far away as Spain, but did not attract any willing investors.
So was the design contest for naught?
“Nope, we fully expect to continue that discussion once the economy picks up and development prospects for those lots improve,” Norris told the Hook. ” The conversation about the City Market [moving to a new location] needs to happen regardless of what happens to the Water Street lots.”
Five Charlottesville City schools have received an Energy Star designation from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Johnson, Jackson-Via, Venable, Burnley-Moran and Clarke elementary schools have already received their designation and plaques; applications from Greenbrier Elementary and Charlottesville High School are still being processed, according to a press release.
You would think the City Council might have had the discussion about moving the market to Court Square before a fortune was spent on the last facelift of the area. That might have solved most if not all of the problems they face there. Too busy with crap ideas like giving away money for that stupid Water Street competition. The real owners will hire who they want when the time comes to develop and the city will have little to say in the matter.
We’re a frequent visitor of the City Market. Right now, the current location is fantastic, but it’s bursting at the seems. A move to Court Square would benefit everyone, while still maintaining the central location for everyone to take advantage of.
Why don’t you just buy some ad space instead of comment spamming?
Parking available at Court Square ? What a joke !
Why not make the City Market a true “farmers market” and move the craft vendors and locally owned food wholesalers over to Lee Park or Court Square instead of letting them piggy-back on the successful Water St location for which actual farmers are mostly responsible? By diversifying locations, the argument could be made that half of the customers will park at one site and walk to the other (particularly if the other is Lee Park as its within sight almost..)and vice-versa, allieviating parking concerns.
The same parking that is used for Water Street can be used for Court Square and Jackson Park. Its a small matter of blocks and the walk will do most people good. After all, what is Court Square used for on Saturdays?
I like Mr./Ms. Four Asterisks’ idea: split the market between Water Street and Lee Park. I agree that the non-farmer/crafts vendors could be sorted out from the farmer vendors. Court Square is a good idea except for Temple Beth Israel has complained that it would impact their ability to get on-street parking during their services/activites on Saturday. Lee Park has some shade and would mean that the market would “straddle” the Mall. The special events that they have in Lee Park currently e.g. International Festival, Vegetarian Festival, could be moved to Court Square, which is pretty dead during the weekend.
I noticed the market parking at the Meade Avenue Pool last night appeared to be worse than any day of swimming parking. There’s not room for this in Court Square.
Since the city is spending millions on transit, why not use it? The trolley (free) loops around the Mall.
The parking problems I noticed most was numerous trucks the merchants used to carry their goods to the pool. There wouldn’t be room for these trucks alone in Court Square.
*****, the good thing, at least, is that the parking situation @ Meade only lasts for 4 hours on Wednesdays. I think the Market should be moved to the back portion of the park, immediately after you go over the creek. The parking lot would hold the vendors, and some overflow could go on the street.
P&R should provide an easy way for the vendors to unload their trucks and get the goods that short distance– either w/ large carts or some other means. That would eliminate parking and re-parking, and would then free up enough on-street parking for the customers. Not a perfect solution, but perhaps better than what they have now.
what about the U-Hall parking lot? plenty of parking, easy access and pretty central
Courtsquare is a joke, agreed. Also like the idea of separating the crafts from the farmers market…
How about we move the City Market to the County Office Building where it belongs.
Why should the City earn $1.1 million from farmers who live in Albemarle County and other rural areas?
All the City is doing is sucking the life out of the County. First with $19+ million in revenue-sharing and now $1+ million for the market. The County was cutting its budget to the bone while the City rebricked the Mall.
Doesn’t anyone else see what the problem is?
Charlottesville has a bad case of “entitlement.”