Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton.
(Joe Hren, WFIU/WTIU News)
Bloomington’s mayor is recommending the city continue to operate the Bloomington Community Farmers’ Market. The Board of Park Commissioners is slated to make a decision on the future of the market at its meeting Thursday.
The market is currently in a legal limbo of sorts because of the controversy surrounding one vendor, Sarah Dye, owner of Schooner Creek Farm.
Activists have called for the city to kick Dye and Schooner Creek out of the market because she is a self-professed white "identitarian"; however, removing Dye for personal beliefs would violate the First Amendment to the Constitution.
If the market were in private hands it could prohibit Dye from attending.
In a letter released Tuesday night, Mayor John Hamilton wrote, “Deciding whether to continue the public market should be based on what is in the long-term interest of the city and all our residents, not a decision focused on any potential future specific vendors.”
He says an earlier letter from over 90 vendors asking the city to retain the market led him to release a letter of his own, because a private market would likely be unable to provide the range of access and equity that’s important to patrons and vendors.
“This market began as a farmers’ market for the agriculture community,” Hamilton says. “And hearing from them that they very strongly and in a very dominant voice say, ‘Please, city, keep running this market for us.’ That was very important to me.”
The letter issued a number of recommendations for the market in the future, including:
An enhanced staff presence
Refining the physical boundaries of the market
Actively recruiting more vendors of color
Expanding the market’s appeal for a diverse clientele through programming and entertainment.
“It is absolutely essential that we make this public space not only be but also feel inclusive and welcoming to everybody,” Hamilton says. “That’s been a goal, we’ve had some challenges with that, but we’re gonna keep working at it.”
The letter goes on to say that the market's governing documents, including the vendor application, contract, handbook and rules of behavior need to be updated.
Activists have decried new rules put in place last month that they say make it harder to protest at the market.
Abby Ang, the lead organizer for the activist group No Space for Hate, says the new rules seem to favor Schooner Creek’s freedom of speech and diminish that of protestors and other vendors.
“There’s irony to the proposed rules,” Ang says. “The city has maintained that this is a free speech, First Amendment issue, but then the new rules will deny [a protestor or vendor] her free speech rights. Because she wouldn’t be allowed, according to the vendor contract adjustments – she wouldn’t be allowed a sign encouraging people to vote. She wouldn’t have signs promoting tolerance and diversity.”
Hamilton says if the Parks Board retains the market at its meeting tomorrow, the city will continue to work on improving the market, which would include taking a look at some of those controversial changes made at last month’s Market Advisory Board meeting.
“We will continue to do that, week-by-week, even,” he says. “We’re adjusting some of the documents that outline vendor requirements and obligations and those kinds of things. And those absolutely will be things that we’ll continue to work on.”
The Board of Park Commissioners is scheduled to meet Thursday, Jan. 9 at 4 p.m. in the City Council chambers at City Hall.
