{"id":28024,"date":"2023-08-21T11:56:47","date_gmt":"2023-08-21T18:56:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=28024"},"modified":"2023-08-21T11:56:50","modified_gmt":"2023-08-21T18:56:50","slug":"fate-of-42-year-old-farmers-market-caught-up-in-battle-over-u-n-plaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/08\/21\/fate-of-42-year-old-farmers-market-caught-up-in-battle-over-u-n-plaza\/","title":{"rendered":"Fate of 42-year-old farmer&#8217;s market caught up in battle over U.N. Plaza"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/users\/profile\/Natalia%20Gurevich\">By Natalia Gurevich | Examiner staff writer |<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Aug 20, 2023 (SFExaminer.com)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com\/sfexaminer.com\/content\/tncms\/assets\/v3\/editorial\/f\/6c\/f6c4eefe-3e19-11ee-a579-c3502a028e92\/6467041f3ad7d.image.jpg?resize=400%2C281\" alt=\"U.N. Plaza City Hall view in San Francisco\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>United Nations Plaza has hosted a farmer\u2019s market for 42 years, but that might change soon.Craig Lee\/The Examiner<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The fight converging over the future of beleaguered&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/politics\/sf-board-prez-defends-un-plaza-meeting-after-brick-thrown\/article_24cf6dee-fa5c-11ed-ad87-3b8e6661d073.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">United Nations Plaza<\/a>&nbsp;represents how San Francisco leaders and community members are divided over what constitutes a community space \u2014 and to whom such spaces belong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The San Francisco Recreation and Park Department, directed by Mayor London Breed\u2019s office, is breaking ground on a new pilot program designed to \u201cactivate the space\u201d by establishing a skate park and pingpong tables, and pouring asphalt over the currently brick-covered plaza near City Hall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But in doing so, the department is relocating a beloved farmers market from its 42-year home in a part of The City with few options for fresh produce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI think that The City has been very short-sighted in not looking at what the farmers market needs and providing it for them,\u201d said Adele Framer, a Haight-<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ashbury resident who said she has been shopping at the market for nearly 20 years. \u201cThey\u2019re an asset to The City.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But city leaders contend that something must be done to combat the area\u2019s safety issues, including open drug use and crime, which have&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/business\/la-cocina-marketplace-another-sf-pandemic-recovery-victim\/article_70a49188-226e-11ee-8c68-ebff0c96ba18.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">deterred people from spending time there<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe are dealing with a lot of public safety issues in terms of the open-air drug market,\u201d said Pratibha Tekkey, the organizing coordinator of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic. \u201cPeople always complain about how bad U.N. Plaza is at night and even during the day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tekkey said that because the plaza is not a defined space, it\u2019s opened up to safety risks. The decision to turn it into a skate park and a place for other games is a way to improve the space, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a pilot project, and I completely support that because we\u2019ve got to do something positive, something creative,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But others \u2014 like David Elliot Lewis, co-chair of the Tenderloin People\u2019s Congress \u2014 disagree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cU.N. Plaza is kind of a social gathering space for a lot of low-income residents and SRO residents who have nowhere else to go,\u201d Lewis said.&nbsp;\u201cPeople who live in single-room occupancy hotels don\u2019t have a living room or often a recreation room, and their only recreation space is U.N. Plaza.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Tenderloin doesn\u2019t have many parks, he said, or other free and accessible spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI believe a lot of support is coming from the mayor\u2019s office to do something about U.N. Plaza \u2014 do something means brushing away poor people and those that make affluent people uncomfortable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are other ways to reinvent the space that won\u2019t mean forcing the farmers market to move, Lewis said, such as bringing in food trucks or a craft market from time to time. \u201cWe\u2019re not saying no to activation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The farmers market is being moved to a parking lot nearby on Fulton Street, between Larkin and Hyde streets, to make way for a new initiative part of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/breed-promotes-public-safety-downtown-recovery-in-2023\/article_ee76730c-a752-11ed-b474-b755dc5046a2.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Breed\u2019s \u201cRoadmap for Downtown,\u201d<\/a>&nbsp;which was unveiled earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But concerns have been raised by community members and groups about the new space\u2019s size, which they say will be harder for customers and farmers to access. Many said they are worried about how the change will affect the farmers market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If the market had been able to run seven days a week instead of two, that would have settled the issue. But despite being asked multiple times by the Recreation and Parks Department to expand its days and hours, the market couldn\u2019t make it work, said Daniel Montes, a spokesperson for the department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThese activations, like skating elements and new other activities, we want those to be there seven days a week,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want people to have these options.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Breed asked the department to take over stewardship of U.N. Plaza earlier this year as part of her strategy to revitalize downtown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhat we do with parks and public spaces in our experience is bringing fun, healthy activities to public spaces and parks,\u201d Montes said. \u201cIt\u2019s what works and what draws people in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But ripping out the plaza\u2019s bricks and pouring asphalt is a bridge too far for some residents. Ed Whiteman said he has been shopping at the market since it opened in 1981.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey said this was an experiment,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat are you talking about?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The City\u2019s assurance that if the pilot program doesn\u2019t work, the farmers will be able to move back, doesn\u2019t make sense to Whiteman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBy that time, those farmers will be gone,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ll lose the market.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Steve Pulliam, executive director of the market, said the issue is about communication \u2014 or lack thereof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI think that one of the primary issues has been that it\u2019s happening so fast,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although he was alerted to the move in April has been in touch with The City over the last few months, Pulliam said he didn\u2019t know the change was going to happen until he read about it in the news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAccording to them, we\u2019ve been supportive of the project, and we\u2019ve been working with them,\u201d he said. \u201cI guess technically that\u2019s true, but it was more like they would show me a layout of us moving across the street and I\u2019d say no, that\u2019s not going to work for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ultimately, Pulliam wants to move past this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m gonna try my best to make a new location work,\u201d he said. \u201cSome of the information that\u2019s gotten out there is that we\u2019re going to close \u2014 I want everybody to know that we\u2019re not closing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The market\u2019s first day at the new location will be Sunday, Sept. 3. In the new location, the hours will be reduced from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays and 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Wednesdays to 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., according to a release issued by the Heart of the City Farmers Market earlier this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re gonna try to make the best of the situation at hand,\u201d said Pulliam.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The fight converging over the future of beleaguered&nbsp;United Nations Plaza&nbsp;represents how San Francisco leaders and community members are divided over what constitutes a community space \u2014 and to whom such spaces belong. The San Francisco Recreation and Park Department, directed by Mayor London Breed\u2019s office, is breaking ground on a&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/08\/21\/fate-of-42-year-old-farmers-market-caught-up-in-battle-over-u-n-plaza\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[973,215],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28024"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28024"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28028,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28024\/revisions\/28028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}