Arlington Market

Posted an update on twitter about this and immediately got a couple of emails and one phone call (folks, if you’re “following” the @arlingtonmarket twitter, please actually follow it via twitter’s mechanism and reply there, makes the questions easier to answer).

I’ll have to go into more detail at some point, but in a nutshell: the Clarendon Alliance is a 501(c)6, which is a “business league” nonprofit. As such, they shouldn’t be operating the Saturday market (it’s a violation of their tax exempt status, which brings with it some pretty nasty fines).

There’s some question as to whether they should even be operating outside of the Clarendon neighborhood, but that’s a bit technical.

What isn’t technical at all is that a 501(c)6 is expressly forbidden by IRS code from operating any endeavor ordinarily pursued for profit. I’ve talked with some very helpful folks at the IRS about this issue and have received some rather unequivocal answers.

The short version is that when the IRS steps in to address this issue, the Saturday market is probably going to be without an operator (and I expect this is going to get rather complex for Arlington County, as the Clarendon Alliance receives about half of their annual funding from taxpayer money).

All parties have been informed about the situation and the latest word from Mary Hynes of the Arlington County Board and Susan Anderson of the Clarendon Alliance is that everyone involved “feels” that the Alliance is in accordance with the various restrictions and requirements.

It’s a little amazing to me that this issue isn’t being taken more seriously, at least by the folks in the County (this is an election year and there are already lots of rumblings about how taxpayer funds are being spent).

My biggest fear is that this situation collapses under its own weight and the Saturday market is left without an operator, and we find out without adequate time to make adjustments (which is precisely what happened with the Sunday market).

Last note for tonight: we know some folks in the County are following us on twitter and reading this website (the access logs specify Arlington County government IP addresses). It would really be interesting if you folks with the county would respond to some of this stuff.

As always, send comments, questions, etc. care of this website, and I’ll post more news and that promised background information as soon as I can find the time.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for the supportive emails.

General Update

We had another handful of vendors show up at the site of the former Sunday market this morning looking to set up, only to be told the Clarendon Alliance and the Arlington County government has allowed the market to (for now) perish.

On the drive in this morning I noticed several of the many official County signs advertising the Farmer’s Market on Saturdays, and the Courthouse Market on both Saturday and Sunday. The parking lot where the market was sited still has the no parking restrictions clearly marked on signage, and I watched many confused people pull in, read the signs, and then leave, despite the fact that (for now, at least) the parking lot is just that: a parking lot, like any other in the County.

In addition to the vendors, we had at least a dozen people, both regular market patrons and new faces, show up prior to ten o’clock looking for the market. When told of the meeting with Mary Hynes and Hunter Moore (of Economic Development, ironically) where they effectively axed the market at the fifty-eight minute mark of an hour long meeting, one week before the last regular supported market date, they were as incredulous as we had been at the meeting.

“They told you one week before canceling the market?” one regular asked. “Aren’t they supposed to be trying to revitalize the ‘urban village’ in this area?”

It’s troubling and more than a little sad that the County’s own catch phrase for it’s stated intentions for programs like the market has become a bitter punchline to the realities of their actions.

For those folks who asked this morning, and for the others who have asked in the weeks since we first heard the news, here is the contact information for the various members of the County government.

The general number for the County Board is 703-228-3130. We recommend asking to speak with Mary Hynes, as she has been appointed the liaison between the community and the various people behind the Courthouse markets. You may also want to ask to speak to Jay Fisette, as he has been involved in some capacity in efforts to preserve this market. Of course, if you are more familiar with Chairman Barbara Favola, Walter Tejada, or Chris Zimmerman, it would certainly be appropriate to direct your questions and concerns to those county board members as well.

If you are referred to the Clarendon Alliance by either Lourdes Sanchez, who mostly commonly answers the main county phone number, by any of the board member’s assistants, or by the board members themselves, I strongly urge you to protect your rights and “politely but firmly” insist on speaking to the board member of your choice about the market, especially if you are a resident and taxpayer of Arlington County.

Our most recent email exchange with Mary Hynes ended with words to the effect that “any further business should be directed to the Clarendon Alliance,” which is an organization I believe the vendors would be unanimous in their disapproval of.

We have been trying to work with Susan Anderson, Executive Director of the Clarendon Alliance, and Greg Cahill, President of the Alliance (and owner of several Arlington restaurants, including Whitlow’s on Wilson) for the better part of a year. In my opinion, the Clarendon Alliance will not or cannot address the concerns of the Arlington communities they are supposed to be serving—in any event, they certainly do not address concerns put to them by members of of the market community, as the many unanswered calls and emails we have experienced attest to.

Again, if your experience or opinion differs, or if you are a member of the county government or Clarendon Alliance, I invite you to share your opinion or offer a rebuttal on this website.

You may also wish to call County Manager Ron Carlee at 703-228-3120 and express your feelings about the cancellation of the Sunday market—and again, “politely but firmly” refuse any diversionary efforts on behalf of Ron or his staff. I have tried three times to schedule an appointment with Ron Carlee, and have been refused all three times—maybe you’ll have better luck.

As the County Manager, Ron “ensures high quality services, with outstanding customer service, at a good value to taxpayers; fosters economic and fiscal sustainability; and enhances Arlington’s reputation as a high performing, learning, caring organization that operates in a manner consistent with its mission and values,” at least according the county’s own website. The fact that the Clarendon Alliance, a taxpayer-funded nonprofit organization, decides at apparently a moment’s notice to cancel a market they were charged with promoting and advertising because it is unprofitable is an issue I think the County Manager should be more concerned with. Mr. Carlee’s own thoughts on ethics in local government would certainly lead the average citizen to think so. I’ll post more on that soon.

I can’t, in good faith, recommend contacting the Clarendon Alliance, as they have simply not illustrated an ability or desire to address concerns of the community or the vendors of the markets they have been given authority over (and, again, taxpayer funds to support). If you wish to contact them, you may wish to speak to Greg Cahill, President of the Alliance, rather than Executive Director Susan Anderson. As Cahill is a business owner in Arlington who relies in some part on his reputation, he may be more interested in responding to your concerns. You can reach the Clarendon Alliance at 703-812-8881, and you may be able to reach Greg Cahill at Whitlow’s on Wilson, at 703-276-9693.

Though in my personal experience, Hunter Moore has been the opposite of helpful, you may want to contact him through the Arlington office of Economic Development at 703-228-0834. He may be more inclined to be polite to members of the general community.

And again—I cannot stress this enough—if Susan Anderson, Greg Cahill, Hunter Moore or any member of the County Government would like to respond in this space, they are more than welcome to do so.

I’ll continue to update the site what whatever news I can, but if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, I encourage feedback and contact.

General Update

I should preface my comments again with a disclaimer—these are just my personal opinions, and I don’t want to speak for anyone who may differ with my view. If you’re a vendor at the market and you would like to differ with my opinions or offer your own, I encourage you to contact me. If you’re a member of the Arlington County Government or of the Clarendon Alliance it would certainly be interesting to get your feedback.

Having said that, and with an acknowledgment that I haven’t gone into the full story of the Courthouse Markets and their long relationship with the Clarendon Alliance and the Arlington County Government yet—and with a promise to detail that history soon—I’ll press on.

I think all of the regular vendors at these markets would agree that the Clarendon Alliance, which holds the permits and which is tasked with promoting and supporting the markets, hasn’t done anything for us in the past five or six years. Whether they ever adequately promoted or supported the markets is debatable.

I think most of the regular vendors would also agree that the Arlington County Government hasn’t helped us in trying to hold the Clarendon Alliance accountable for their negligence and indifference. Vendors  have repeatedly contacted Mary Hynes, Jay Fisette, other members of the County Board and the County Manager, Ron Carlee.

We have been promised change, have had numerous meetings with various representatives of the County Government and with Susan Anderson and Greg Cahill, the Executive Director and President of the Clarendon Alliance respectively. Not only has there been no progress, the markets have declined. As I’ve written here lately, the Clarendon Alliance has even canceled one of the markets, effectively halving the income of anyone who relies on them for a livelihood.

At one point in the past, a proposal was drafted and presented to the Alliance and the County Government that would have allowed the markets to be managed by vendors, and would have allowed the rent collected from the vendors to be used for advertising and other needs of the market (which, really, should have been what those funds were used for anyway). The proposal was rejected, as I have been told by Susan Anderson, unread.

The vendors have half-jokingly used the phrase “taxation without representation” in discussing the odd limbo in which the markets existed—caught between an absentee landlord that would neither adequately manage and promote the market and a County government that would not allow anyone else to step in. And here it is, July 4t, the Saturday before the first “no market” Sunday we will have.

As corny as it sounds, I was re-reading some  of the more important American historical documents this evening—the Constitution, the Gettysburg Address— and had to pause when I hit the Declaration of Independence. To compare our little market with the founding of this country would be ridiculous, but it’s especially ironic that in a state with the motto “thus be it always to tyrants” on its flag, we citizens of this free republic are experiencing in microcosm the same kind of complaints that inspired the Founding Fathers to draft the following:

We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness—-That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

All that we have been looking for in the market is for adequate governance by a body acting on behalf of and in the best interests of the community and the vendors. Instead, the Clarendon Alliance collects rents from the market every weekend and has to date done nothing with those rents that could be said to benefit the markets in any way. The County Government continues to allow this state of affairs despite proof being provided to them repeatedly of the Clarendon Alliance’s incompetence and disinterest. Now that the Sunday market has failed to secure a profit for the Clarendon Alliance,  they’ve abandoned it—and again, the County not only allows it, but apparently condones the behavior, choosing to spring it on us at the very end of an hour-long meeting one week before the final market day.

It is this sort of behavior that motivates those of us among the vendors who want to see the markets under the control of a competent and engaged organization. To borrow phrases from the Declaration of Independence, we want to “dissolve the Political Bands which have connected” us with an entity like the Clarendon Alliance, which has long been responsible for “imposing taxes on us without our Consent,” and lately been responsible for “cutting off our Trade with all Parts of the World,” two of the complaints the signers of the Declaration of Independence  addressed to the tyrant George III in the summer of 1776.

Again, to compare these markets, as small as they are and as trivial as they may seem, to the founding of this nation is perhaps a bit silly. But again, it is especially ironic and more than a little sad that we find ourselves without meaningful recourse from our elected officials in the state that Jefferson made his home, and with complaints that would I think be at least somewhat familiar to him.

Happy 4th of July.

General Update

… of the Sunday Market, I mean. We had our “last market” this past Sunday, which was (to say the least) bittersweet.

I talked to about a dozen people over the course of the weekend about the dilemma the Sunday Market (and the community of vendors) finds itself in. I was surprised to hear criticism of the County Board—specific in some cases, general in others—from everyone I spoke to. There was not one apologist or even “hopeful citizen” among them, which I have to admit I was really surprised by. There seems to be, at least among the people I spoke to, a groundswell of discontent.

For example. I was talking to one of the other vendors about what had happened in the past couple of weeks, not noticing a “civilian” (non-vendor) lingering nearby, looking at some things being offered for sale but overhearing our conversation by circumstance of proximity.

The conversation (naturally) centered around Mary Hynes, who had called the meeting and then shoe-horned the closure announcement into the last two minutes, leaving no time for discussion.

During a lull, the “bystander”—well and smartly dressed, obviously someone who has seen a measure of success in whatever her profession might be—spoke up. “You know,” she said. “I worked with Mary Hynes …”

I braced myself, thinking I’d put my foot in it and was about to get blasted. It’s bad form to talk politics or religion among strangers, but especially bad form when you’re attached to a business trying to provide quality goods and a positive experience to anyone you might be lucky enough to attract as a customer—you do not want to alienate them.

I was in for a bigger surprise, though.

“She’s just like the rest of them. Once they get in office, they just don’t give a damn about the people who got them elected.”

Wow. Without saying anything that would give away her identity, I will say she spoke at some length about having worked with Mary Hynes in the past, and even having worked on her campaign. She had met and was familiar with other board members—Jay Fisette, Walter Tejada, board chairman (that’s how she’s referred to on the Arlington County website) Barbara Favola (well known for her trademark red blazer). She roundly condemned them all as “typical politicians.” I was pretty much speechless.

Here was a “lifelong Arlingtonian and yellow-dog democrat” just laying into the County Board, people who I had thought were seen as progressive and responsive. “Typical politicians” would be a refrain I heard over and over during the course of the day as I spoke to friends, regular customers, people who stopped by and inquired about setting up as vendors in the future. A friend who I’ve known for over two years (we met at the market; he started out as a customer, but as often happens the relationship has changed) said simply, “I’m getting sick of this Board.”

It is, perhaps, predictable. People are seldom completely happy with their elected officials, and often experience “buyer’s remorse.” The recent criticisms of the Obama administration featuring prominently in national news may have sparked some introspection on the local level among voters and taxpayers.

I know that I have been disappointed (and it’s no exaggeration to say bitterly so) by local government, but I was genuinely surprised that so many other people, especially people of the same political party as those in power, felt the same. If I had to sum up the general feeling one word, I’d say “used.” Then again, maybe it isn’t so surprising that I wasn’t aware of the consensus—I have seldom talked politics, local or otherwise, at the market.

Someone I’d just met (who was asking who to talk to about setting up as a vendor), greeted the news of the market’s closure with “I was just reading that they’re cutting more bus lines on the way over here, and they were closing a nature center near my house. Now this? This doesn’t even cost the county any money.”

I guess there might be a wake-up call coming for the Arlington County Board in the next few elections.

(By the way, each of the conversations I mention above had at least one other witness—I’m trying to walk a tightrope between divulging anyone’s identity and seeming like I’m just bashing the County Board for no good reason; I hope I’m succeeding, but please address any concerns you might have to me, care of this website).

Enough of the political. On a personal level, the “last market” feeling was downright depressing, but only because of we were reminded of how wonderful the Sunday markets have been in the past.

I saw a couple of friends I hadn’t seen in about six months (again, the relationship started as “vendor-customer,” but changed over the time that I’d known them). I’d met them in sequence—first him, then her—originally concerning a gift from him, for her. They had just recently met then (this would be about two years ago, maybe a bit more), and he wanted to be sure to strike the right tone with his gift (first gifts are notoriously tricky).

Evidently he chose wisely: they were stopping by to announce their engagement. Amidst the round of congratulations and when’s-the-date questions, he said “If it weren’t for you guys, it may not have happened!” I’m sure he was (at least) half-kidding, but she echoed his sentiment by saying “yeah, it all started here with that first gift.” Again, I’m sure these comments were made mostly in jest, but it did remind me of all the positive experiences I’ve been graced with over the past four years at the market.

I can’t count how many times I’ve been part of helping someone pick out a birthday gift. When you hear later that the recipient “loved it,” it becomes a lot more than simple commerce. Being some small part of the celebrations of others is something that I really treasure about my experiences at the market, and I know it’s not just me.

Other vendors have sold furniture to young couples who had just moved to the area, then a year or so later sold them children’s furniture for a recent addition to their growing family. Last week, a father-son duo spent an hour or so looking at bikes together (the son left with one, the father with the intention of coming back soon for one of his own so they could ride together).

I remember a Sunday market visitor buying a framed advertisement for a Nash automobile that his father owned. He was buying it in early spring, saving it for a Father’s Day gift. It was one of three left in the world of that specific make and model. “What are the odds?”

Then there are stories like the pair of chairs purchased for $60 at the Sunday market several years ago that turned out to be worth exponentially more: one was later sold to a private collector for in excess of a hundred thousand dollars, the other now resides in a museum.

And then there are all the visitors passing by from their hotels to the metro, asking directions or recommendations on local restaurants or things to see and do in the area. As a native Washingtonian, I’ve always tried to help people find their way around and guide them towards locally owned businesses (which is something I haven’t even touched on: the impact the absence of the Sunday market might have for business owners in the Courthouse area).

The Sunday market meant a lot of great things to a lot of people, things that many of us are just realizing now that they’re in serious jeopardy (we still haven’t given up hope).

I told my recently engaged friends about the market’s closure (they’ve known about our previous attempts to get the Clarendon Alliance to promote and advertise—or even just manage—the market competently). I also told them about the complete stonewalling we’ve experienced from Arlington County government and the County Board members who claim to be interested in supporting the market.

The by-now-familiar criticism of local government returned. “That sucks. I kind of feel like this is less of a cool place to live, now.”

I know the feeling.

General Update