Does the North End Need A New Public Market?

It seems there are no shades of gray when it comes to people’s opinion on whether or not a new public market will be good for the North End.  

Rather, people feel the proposed plan for the Boston Public Market to come to 136 Blackstone Street by June 2014 will be good for the neighborhood or extremely detrimental to the vendors who have already set up in the area and have been selling produce and other foods for years and years.  

A non-profit charity, the Boston Public Market Association plans to develop and operate a year-round market with fresh, locally grown food for consumers of all income levels. 

How the plan stands to date

The organizers say Parcel 7 -- a 30,000 square-foot retail space on the first floor of the building -- is an ideal site for a public market and stress that it's located between Boston's fiancial district and North Station which is easily accessed by the Green and Orange MBTA line.

Media spokespeople for the association did not return repeated phone calls and emails to North End Patch but the Boston Public Market website has extensive information, including the proposal and fundraising efforts to date.

"We submitted a proposal to develop and operate the Public Market to the State’s Market Commission in March and are pleased to announce that we have been designated to bring the project to fruition," the site states. "We anticipate an opening in June 2014."

Does the community need the market?

Margaret Isham, formerly a resident of the North End and now living nearby in Cambridge, thinks the public market will be good for people in this area.

On a regular basis, she crosses over the new pedestrian bridge at North Point Park to do some shopping here.

"I love the specialty markets in the North End where I buy cheese, olives, wine, pizza dough and cannoli," Margaret said. "But for fresh fruit and produce I would like to have more options for people on foot who are shopping for local produce and locally made products.”

Margaret believes the people who live here need the convenience of a public market right in their neighborhood.

Robert Skole, a writer and resident of the North End, is opposed to the public market’s plans.

"The ventilation station building has been empty for over 10 years," he said. "The North End and West End neighborhoods have been asking for a supermarket in the neighborhood for all those years.  I know that some supermarkets would have loved to move into the building years ago."

However, Skole said, the state turned them down.

"The mayor and governor were convinced by some green yuppies that we need a public market instead, so the state put up millions to get it going."

Why is taxpayer money used to help private businesses? Skole asked. "What happened to free enterprise? If a public market is so great, and in such demand, it surely would pay for itself. Who is behind the "non profit"  group that got the contract?  What have they ever done? What are their finances? How much are the executives of the "non profit" paid?"

Doesn't the North End need a grocery store more?

Skole also wonders how the Boston Public Market Association can make an agreement not to handle products from the Chelsea wholesale market so they won't compete with the Haymarket pushcarts.

"Isn't this restraint of trade?" he asked "Who would enforce it? What happens to the farm trucks now on City Hall plaza twice a week?"

Skole realizes there were public meetings about the proposed public market but says they were held after the city and state decided there would be a public market.

"It was like a blessing, as if the neighborhood actually wanted the market, when what we need is a supermarket," he said.

Certainly, one is planned for a new building to go up in the Bulfinch Triangle area but Skole said, "We'll be pushing shopping wagons in the sky -- and Mayor Menino will be in his 15th term -- by time we get to shop in one."