Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Italian Market (Philadelphia)

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The top two photos are of the Florida Market. There places that do on street sales (e.g. Mexican Fruit), but I don't have any photos of these handy (they were on my old harddrive).
but here is a photo from Ken Firestone of Mexican Fruit's offerings:
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And here is one of Richard Layman's photos from the Italian Market:
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and here is one of my photos of the DC Farmers Market:
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Immediately above is a photo of Philadelphia's Italian Market (photo protected under creative commons) from someone else (many are all rights reserved, so you can look, but you can't touch).
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=295306507&size=m ( Jian Ailin 简爱霖) provides the photo immediately above. I don't know, but it looks pretty close to me. For more photos search flickr (free account & no junk email guys) for Italian Market Philadelphia. I suggest looking at the original (larger image) of the photo immediately above to see a building that looks much more like the Florida Market buildings than what you see in the forefront. For more info on the Capital City Market check here.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Does anybody know if the group wanting to redevelop the market is trying to get the 50% vendor approval? If so, is there any way to counter their proposal or inform the current vendors of the downsides to the Kim proposal?

Gina A.

inked said...

I'm sure they will try to get the approval. The is an attorney (Paul Pascal) representing some of the vendors who oppose the deal. I believe that Richard Layman is also somewhat involved. You can call at large Councilmembers, and your Councilmember. Tommy Wells once toured the Market.

Anonymous said...

Story Idea: Has anyone thought to contact the market owners and ask why they've let the property become such an eyesore? Realistically, the powers that be would have a much weaker case for eminent domain abuse if the property owners would re-invest a little and spruce the place up. It would be a lot harder for the city condemn the place in preparation for a takeover, you know, if it didn't actually look like it should be condemned.

inked said...

Honestly, the place could use a little sprucing up, but the area is very functional. I think if the Office of Planning and some other people got involved that it could absolutely be something that appeals to the wholesale market, the local resale market, and the tourist market.
The place currently looks like what it is: a wholesale market. The language of the New Town bill is the language used for terming an area blighted (even if that explicit term was struck). This is area is not blighted. An area is not blighted because it does not cater to the particular uses of a non-target market (i.e. retail). Unfortunately, the fact that this area does not currently effectively target a retail market (which is NOT its target market), appears to some people as evidence of blight. But the fact is that just because a business does target the market that you wish it would target does not make that business a blight (or its area blighted).

Anonymous said...

the owners don't spruce up the place, because they don't care.

matter of fact, i bet they'd be willing to be bought out for the sums of money that have been discussed.

they'd have no more worries about rent not being paid, and having to maintain some of these properties just to keep them functional.

it's the end of the market.

get over it.

inked said...

I just realized that I said Mr. Pascal was representing some of the vendors. I meant landowners (which are sometimes the same thing). I think he may also be dealing with some vendors, but I don't know the details. Sorry about that, I just noticed it.

Naomi said...

It sounds like the whole 'new town' business is really going to happen... I actually find that quite sad. I am from Portland, OR where a hugely succesful public market has been operating for years. It continuously brings revenue and people to the area. Does anyone know if there is a working proposal for another site or other option for the vendors during construction? I imagine it could take years...

inked said...

The idea is to build the vendor site first.
I still don't think they have the 51% needed to trigger eminent domain.