Felicia FriesemaUpdate 5/20/2011 – The Hollywood Farmers Market will be at its usual full size this Sunday (and for the next three Sundays). Marta Segura (@martaspeaks) from Councilmember Eric Garcetti's office tweeted in response to questions about that status of the market's permit, “HFM permit corrected to the current footprint, and our council office is behind their decision.”
The decision Segura refers to is referenced in the letter SEE-LA issued to Councilmembers Garcetti and Alarcon on Monday (the day before their permit expired). SEE-LA wants a permanent market permit for their current location and size. The city instead issued them a month-long extension on their street permit this week, but the language indicated that the market would lose a good chunk of their space south of Selma. In a previous tweet, Segura refers to some “red tape” that needed navigating. Apparently, all is navigated. For the next month, at least.
The original post is after the jump.
The see-saw (hush) between SEE-LA and the City of Los Angeles about the status of the street permit for the Hollywood Farmers Market has taken an interesting, but not surprising turn. SEE-LA has issued a letter to the city stating, “SEE‐LA would prefer to maintain the current market configuration and footprint, with the continued commitment to provide full access to the two LAFS driveways on the southern portion of Ivar and work with all adjoining property owners to optimize market operations.”
That response has been met with yet another permit extension, but this time only for one month. Oh, and yes, there will be a change.
The south end of the Hollywood Farmers Market circa last week. No more?; Credit: Felicia Friesema
When we last talked about the permit debacle, SEE-LA was investigating new market footprints that would change the market layout, in some cases adding vendor space, while giving the Los Angeles Film School (LAFS) Sunday access to one of their student parking lots. Public input at the meeting held on May 1st at the Ricardo Montalban Theatre was less than receptive, citing in many cases the community disruption that would be caused by the weekly shut down of parts of either Hollwyood or Vine. SEE-LA ended the meeting saying it would regroup to discuss its options.
The full language of SEE-LA's response letter is available here. But in a nutshell, SEE-LA and its advisers felt that none of the many options on the table were really viable for the Hollywood Farmers Market for a variety of reasons, and requested that the city grant the market a permanent street closure permanent that would protect its current layout.
The city, as stated before, has granted a temporary permit extension, but it has also shortened the market on Ivar to extend just 50 feet south of Selma, giving LAFS the parking access it has been requesting all along. No word yet on if this shortening along Ivar costs the market any vendors, though given the density of vendors along that stretch, approximately 50 in all, it's highly likely.
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