Farmer’s market to continue

Before residents could even voice their dissent about the village’s consideration of barring some vendors from participating in the Farmer’s Market, the Board of Trustees voted at its meeting on Monday to let the market continue unchanged.

Residents were concerned after they heard that, due to complaints from some local businesses about the market, that the village was considering disallowing some vendors from participating.

“I, as the mayor of the village, along with the Board of Trustees, have an obligation to listen to all sides of the many issues that we vote and render decisions on,” Mayor Francis Murray said at the meeting. “When the village administrator and I were contacted by several merchants expressing their concern for what they feel is an unfair pricing advantage, we were obliged to consider their perception.”

Some businesses had voiced their concerns to the village that the farmer’s market was providing unfair competition. Brick-and-mortar businesses have to pay rent, utilities, insurance, taxes and more to keep their stores open. The vendors at the Farmer’s Market, they argued, are able to operate for free.

Word that the Board of Trustees was considering fettering the farmer’s market spread quickly. On Saturday, village resident Bret Sanford-Chung started an online petition to keep the market open to all. By press time on Tuesday, it had accrued nearly 550 signatures from people in Rockville Centre and the surrounding towns that enjoy the market.

“In this day and age of rampant obesity, the crumbling of families, the death of local farms and the rise of factory farming, the Farmer’s Market becomes an oasis. A place where the community comes together, where families can access food that is good for them, good for the planet and builds up the larger community rather than tearing it down,” Sanford-Chung wrote. “Limiting or eliminating the Market will be a huge step backward for the Village and its residents.”

Nearly two dozen people came out to the meeting on Monday to express their concern with the board that it would consider limiting the market. Each of the trustees had also been contacted individually before the meeting, and the village had received more than 100 emails in support of the market, separate from the petition.

“I appreciate the enthusiasm with which many of you expressed your devotion to the farmer’s market,” Murray said. “I do want to address one concern: it is my understanding that some have called for a boycott of the businesses that they assumed were raising concerns. Please don’t make assumptions about which merchants spoke with us. And certainly don’t penalize our local merchants for advocating for themselves. That right should go both ways.”

No one at the meeting spoke against the village’s decision or in favor of limiting vendors at the market.

When reached for comment, Barbara Goldfeder, president of the Rockville Centre Chamber of Commerce, did not speak out against the mayor’s decision. “We will support the village,” she said.