Relocated Zuccotti Greenmarket Won't Return to the Park
JESSICA TERRELL/TRIBECA TRIB
The market on West Broadway in October, soon after it left Zuccotti Park.
The farmers at the Zuccotti Park greenmarket, who moved to West Broadway and Park Place in October, like their new home. So much so that they want to make it permanent—and even extend their season.
The three-stand market was forced to relocate to its “temporary’ location after business plummeted during the occupation of the park.
“Right now we have more space, and the farmers are doing well where we are,” Cathy Chambers of GrowNYC told Community Board 1’s Financial District Committee on Tuesday.
The market, which is open on Tuesdays, usually runs from April to December, but Chambers said she expects it to reopen this year as early as February on West Broadway, and eventually be year-round.
Committee members voted unanimously to support the market’s bid to stay on West Broadway, but some residents asked Chambers to try bring a market back to Zuccotti Park or find a nearby location.
The market’s problems at Zuccotti Park weren’t confined to barricades and protesters. Brookfield Properties, which owns the park, had only given the greenmarket about 70 feet of space, Chambers said. On West Broadway, the market has more room to grow.
“It’s been a struggle. The farms weren’t doing particularly well,” Chambers said of the Zuccotti Park site.
Ro Sheffe, chairman of the committee, suggested that Chambers approach Brookfield Properties about getting more space in Zuccotti, instead of abandoning the location altogether.
“They allowed the park to be occupied by hundreds and hundreds of people, 24-7 for 60 days, but they won’t allow us to have another couple of greenmarket stalls?” Sheffe said. “I am wondering if they are willing to rethink that.”
Chambers said she would talk to Brookfield and consider additional locations in the Financial District for another greenmarket. A Brookfield spokeswoman said the stands had been located on the city's property, not Brookfield's.
The extra space on West Broadway will allow the market to add more products as well as educational programming like cooking demonstrations when it reopens—something it did not have at Zuccotti, Greenmarket director Michael Hurwitz said.
By Jessica Terrell
POSTED Jan. 06