More than 13 years after its founding, the Manhattan Beach Farmers Market was officially established Tuesday night when the City Council formalized an agreement for the market to pay the costs of using 13th Street between Morningside and Valley drives every Tuesday afternoon.
The Farmers Market was launched at the location in 2006. The council at that time approved a proposal for the market presented by the Downtown Manhattan Beach Business and Professional Association (DMBBPA) and decided to waive city costs associated with it until the market was established.
The market has become a beloved Manhattan Beach institution that features 50 vendors, attracts thousands of residents annually, and supports local non-profits. And so last June, the City Council directed staff to negotiate an agreement with the market that included, among other things, recovering the city’s cost for lost parking revenue.
“We haven’t had an agreement for 13 years,” Steve Charelian, the city’s finance director, told the council.
Charelian was assigned the task of correcting this oversight. Mayor Nancy Hersman joked that he “chose the short straw.”
“Part of the problem was we didn’t have anybody in the city overseeing what was going on with city property, and that was something we needed to make sure happened,” Hersman said. “And it fell on our poor finance director, Steve Charelian, the hero of the night…. We just needed to have something we could all say, okay, this is good. Now go.”
Charelian met with representatives of the market several times over the last six months. The market, which at its outset hoped to produce $13,000 in annual revenue, last year produced $185,000, according to documents provided by DMBBPA to the city. The agreement is about more than the city recovering costs, which amounted to $16,830 annually — $14,198 for lost revenue from 37 metered parking spaces, $2,332 for police department assistance in setting up the market, and $300 for fire department operational inspections. The city also required vendors to “conspicuously display” their Los Angeles County health permits, a periodic code enforcement walkthrough, and further control over how vendor trucks park along Morningside.
The city also sought to control the mix of vendors. According to Charelian, the goal of the current mix of 50 vendors is that 40 percent are farmers selling fresh produce, 40 percent are specialty packaged goods, and 20 percent prepared food vendors.
“This is the mix that is used by [farmers] markets throughout the South Bay,” Charelian said.
“Everyone we called had a similar mix.”
Mayor pro tem Richard Montgomery, who along with Hersman formed the subcommittee that helped forge the proposed agreement, stressed that having the market under contract with the city was simply common sense.
“No one is saying we don’t love the farmers market. We do,” Montgomery said. “The 40, 40, 20 came from the farmers market. We’re not trying to change the new plan. The idea of propane tanks inspected — common sense. Insurance levels raised? Of course…. If something [bad] happened, they will sue us. That’s our job, protection of city property. That’s our
job, our responsibility. Common sense takes precedent.”
Also at issue was when the Market would start paying. The agreement was backdated to July 1, 2019 to coincide with the city’s fiscal year. Former DBBPA president Maureen McBride and board member Mike Simms asked that it be dated Jan. 1, 2020.
“When I work with leases on landlords or contracts with vendors, usually it starts when you sign the contract,” Sims said. “I understand the reasoning for starting in July of last year. But it’s real dollars to us. Just remember, it’s one nonprofit organization to another.”
McBride stressed the importance of allowing the market to determine the right mix of vendors. The city’s proposed contract said the 40/40/20 mix was intended to ensure that selected vendors are not in direct competition with downtown eateries and businesses. McBride said the market had no plans to expand its current footprint, but needed flexibility.
“This is a community event. We want the community to be happy with it. As business owners and stewards of the downtown community, we are aware of the impact the market has on fellow businesses on Tuesdays, whether it’s a restaurant, retail store, just the downtown in general.
But we make decisions based on that….The market has grown for 13 years and been successful for 13 years. Like any business, demographics and trends change. We need to have that flexibility to be able to work in sourcing our farmers and package food vendors and our prepared foods so we fit the footprint and the demographics and what is happening in the market.”
Councilperson Suzanne Hadley praised the market’s success and questioned the notion of the city trying to prevent competition. She called aspects of the agreement “harsh” and overly legalistic.
“I think everyone loves the farmers market. I mean, it was a brilliant idea. You were years ahead of your time, Maureen,” Hadley said. “….[And] When do we eliminate competition downtown? This is the private sector, right?”
Hadley made a motion that both allowed the market to determine its own mix and to start paying the city going forward, not retroactively. The motion passed unanimously.
Downtown restaurateur and Shade Hotel owner Mike Zislis said his business is the most impacted by the market but he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I think it’s such a benefit to the community,” Zislis said. “The biggest complaint I hear
right now as a restaurant owner from friends here in town is, where can the kids eat? They are getting priced out of Manhattan Beach. If you think about it, these restaurants aren’t closing because they failed. They are closing because the rent went from $4 to $11 a square foot. And it doesn’t make financial sense to sell pizza when you are paying $11 a square foot, or a taco for that matter. I say that because I happen to be [at the farmers market] today. It’s full of little kids at noon, and come 3 o’clock, it’s full of teens who just got out of school, picking up food.
I think it’s great…. Shade Hotel is right there, my parking is there, but for the little bit of hassle I have, I wouldn’t give it up for the world.”
