Niskayuna finds a home for new farmers’ market
Event will run monthly this summer in lot near Consumers Co-op
A scaled back version of a farmers’ market proposed last year got the green light from a town committee Wednesday morning after a survey showed public support for the project.
The market is scheduled to start on July 13 and will not be in the Town Hall Gazebo as originally proposed, but on a side lot adjacent to the Niskayuna Consumers Co-op Inc. where the store usually hosts its Chili Cook-off. The market will run on the second Saturday of the month for July, August and September this year.
After Town Supervisor Yasmine Syed’s proposal to start a farmers’ market was tabled last year, the town conducted a survey in September to gauge the public’s interest. More than 700 people responded. Close to 70 percent said there was a need for the town to have the local market but nearly 75 percent of those people said it shouldn’t be paid for with taxpayer dollars.
Another 75 percent of the survey’s respondents said they shop at local farmers’ markets,
with around 25 percent buying produce. A majority wanted the market on a weekend morning and in the Town Hall Gazebo — the coop was not an option in the survey.
The highest percentage — 81 percent — said a local nonprofit should manage it instead of a for-profit corporation or town employees.
The town committee on Wednesday agreed the market will be managed by a volunteer subcommittee. At the meeting, one member was chosen: resident Beth Greenwood, the former mayor of the village of Tully near Syracuse who helped start a farmers’ market there.
She said the village didn’t have a grocery store and a group of residents organized a weekly market with local vendors and live music. It’s now been going strong for six years and even sparked the opening of a health food store.
“It’s been a positive synergy for farmers and the store,” Greenwood said. “If anything, everybody’s business got better.”
The success story was welcome news to town officials who had wanted to avoid hurting business at the co-op by opening up a market at the gazebo just around the corner.
Sarah Bilofsky, who is on the co-op’s board of directors and proposed hosting the farmers’ market, pledged a representative from the co-op for the subcommittee. The town hopes the nonprofit Niskayuna Community Action Program will also be represented.
N-CAP President Jeanne Sosnow said the organization volunteered to handle billing for the market last year and would be willing to serve on a committee this year.
“It fits with our mission,” she said.
Despite interest, though, other local farmers’ markets haven’t fared well. Committee members discussed how Upper Union Street’s in neighboring Schenectady is shutting down.
“It’s an opportunity but it’s a cautionary tale,” Bilofsky said.
The town said it will contact the market’s three remaining vendors to come to Niskayuna.
Wednesday’s meeting left many unanswered questions: How much would the vendors be charged? Would police presence be required? Who would clean up? Who will manage it?
Supervisor Yasmine Syed proposed the idea last year but after back-and-forth debate about where, when and who should run the market, it was tabled. Syed, a Republican, said she was met with “one roadblock after another” from the four members of the all-democratic Town Board.
Town Board members denied their decisions were politically motivated and said they delayed votes because of a lack of timely and open communication.
“The supervisor provided the board an undeveloped idea to provide a $1-per-year, no-bid contract to a Schenectady businessman without any process. The board asked questions about how best to proceed. The town’s legal counsels expressed concern about the risk associated with the Town Hall location during business hours as well as questioned the licensing process,” said Town Board member Denise Murphy Mcgraw.
She said she and fellow Town Board member Lisa Weber developed, distributed and tabulated the survey and called meetings with stakeholders to move the conversation forward.
“That’s what leaders do. Questions are not roadblocks. Asking questions and finding solutions is our job as elected officials,” Mcgraw said.
Ben Wallach, who was poised to manage the market last year, did not attend Wednesday’s meeting and said he will not work with the town. He is instead planning another market not in Niskayuna.
“I’m thrilled with the positive response to my market,” Wallach said, referring to the survey. “I’m not asking for a penny from the town and all they do is obstruct it. If we had more support from the board, we’d have the best new market in the state.”
Weber, chair of the community programs committee that made a motion at Wednesday’s meeting to start the farmers’ market this year, is running for town supervisor.
The town will have to introduce a resolution to be voted on by the board to formalize the plan.