Parking Space vs. Produce: Save the Hollywood Farmers' Market

The Hollywood Farmers' Market holds a special place in my heart; it was my first farmers' market. It's a bit of a sprawling behemoth as far as farmers' markets are concerned — it takes up four blocks smack-dab in the middle of Hollywood every Sunday — but it's chock-full of local producers who are passionate about sustainability and who will be the first to tell you all about voting with your fork.

The Hollywood Market's size and location draws in many people who may not have been exposed to a farmers' market before. I was certainly one of those people years ago. It's a community fixture that's operated for 19 years without incident. But now, suddenly, the market is threatened with a severe size reduction.

The nearby Los Angeles Film School says it's revoking its consent to close one of the four big streets the market inhabits. The market blocks access to two of the school's parking lots every Sunday morning, and the school says that it wants to offer more classes during that time. The Farmers' Market says the revoking of that much space would mean that 50 farmers would lose their places, representing $3 million of income annually and a loss of $170,000 per year in revenue for the market itself.

That lost money wouldn't just hurt the Hollywood market, though. Revenue from the farmers' market helps the non-profit in charge, Sustainable Economic Enterprises of Los Angeles (SEE-LA), to run seven other markets in the Los Angeles area. Many of these markets set up shop in low-income neighborhoods like Watts, Crenshaw, and South-Central LA. According to SEE-LA's chief executive, Pompea Smith, the loss of revenue would mean that the non-profit would almost certainly have to close some of those markets. The ripple effect could mean the loss of access to fresh, local produce for thousands of families — many of them in low-income neighborhoods and food deserts — all for a few parking spaces. Ironically, the nearby Jack in the Box also opposes the continued street closures.

Planning Commissioner Mike Woo, a former Councilman who oversaw the opening of the Hollywood Farmers' Market and now chairs its board, says the school could gain the same number of parking spaces by knocking out a wall in its own garage. The school counters that that's a prohibitively expensive proposition. I'm inclined to tell the school to just have its students park in the same place I do every time I visit the market — in the ample spaces available in the Arclight parking structure a mere one block away.

Now the Los Angeles Board of Public Works has been called in to mediate the battle between the farmers' market and the film school. The market has been granted a 30-day temporary permit, which expires January 16th, while a solution is sought. The film school — who, by the way, showed up eight years after the market did — has hired a big City Hall lobbying firm to defend its interests. In opposition, a passionate defense by dedicated market-goers has sprung up. You can help back them up by signing our petition to the Board of Public Works and Councilman Eric Garcetti, who represents the district in which this whole kerfuffle takes place. Tell them to speak out for what's best for the whole community, not just one private school. A lack of parking is an irritation; a lack of food is a threat to the health of all of Los Angeles' citizens.

Photo: sfxeric via Flickr