Planting Seeds for a new FHP "Greenmarket"

Jessica Turner, Councilmember Brad Lander's capable Kensington liaison, emails this report about her work cultivating a youth-run Greenmarket in Kensington for 2011.

In March of this year—following up on the petitions that many of you worked on—our office began having conversations with GrowNYC (the organization that runs the largest network of farmers markets in the City) about getting a Greenmarket in Kensington.

The good news GrowNYC is willing to work with us on bringing a youth-run farm stand to Kensington this summer/fall.
The less good news It did not agree to a full-scale Greenmarket; although it is willing to get started with a “Youthmarket,” at least as a first step.

It did not agree to the location(s) proposed. The location GrowNYC feels has the best chance of success this year is Fort Hamilton Parkway, between East 4th & East 5th, in front of the Brooklyn Public Library.

Youthmarket
Councilmember Lander arranged a meeting with Marcel Van Ooyen, GrowNYC’s executive director to ask for his help in getting a Greenmarket implemented. GrowNYC agreed to study the feasibility of a full-scale Greenmarket in Kensington, at our request. Unfortunately, it determined that based upon the availability of farmers, a full-scale Greenmarket in Kensington was not something it could implement this year.

However, Marcel suggested that implementing a Youthmarket—a somewhat smaller farmers' market run by local youth, with the support of a community partner organization—might be more feasible. GrowNYC describes Youthmarkets as “a network of urban farm stands operated by neighborhood youth, supplied by local farmers, and designed to bring fresh fruits and vegetables to communities throughout New York City.” Youthmarket purchases a variety of fresh produce from farmers in the Greenmarket network and trains NYC youth to run weekly farm stands in their communities. You can learn more here.

While it is not as large as a full-scale Greenmarket, we are excited about the idea. It would be a great way to bring a diverse group of Kensington young people together;  it would offer a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables throughout the summer and fall; and it could be a step to a larger Greenmarket in future years. We have reached out to a great not-for-profit organization, Family Cook Productions which has indicated it would be willing to support a Youthmarket in Kensington this year by providing young people to work at the stand.

Location
The petition that was circulated focused on PS 230 as the optimal location. However, GrowNYC does not place its markets near existing greengrocers, and the proximity to FoodTown led them to reject PS 230 as a location. This was true for other sites we suggested, such as the emerging plaza in front of Walgreens, or the small triangle park at Church Ave. & 35th Street, both of which are very near to stores with substantial fresh produce.

After much back-and-forth, the one location in the area that GrowNYC is willing to consider is Fort Hamilton Parkway between East 4th and East 5th. I know many people consider this Windsor Terrace.  It is also a long walk for some people. But it is the one location GrowNYC was willing to move forward with. Because the deadline for permit applications was in January, GrowNYC submitted a tentative application for the necessary permits to place a Youthmarket at that location.

Where do we go from here?
We hope you will agree that while a Youthmarket on FHP @ E.4th/E.5th does not meet all of our goals, it is a good start and well worth pursuing for this year.

If you agree and are willing to work with us to make this a reality (e.g., help recruit young people, work with them, help with publicity, etc.), please e-mail me at Jturner@council.nyc.gov

Alternatively, if you are unhappy with this approach and think we should say “no” to the offer from GrowNYC and Family Cook Productions, please let me know that as well.

Either way, we will keep you updated as we work with GrowNYC and Family Cook Productions in the coming weeks and months.