I was blind “cc’ed” on Sunday in an email to local politicos (this time, on the left), complaining that the “new” Thursday Night Market is going to focus on food-related booths, not political ones.
I applaud that! I love Grass Valley: Some of my best friends live and work there, and we send our son to school in GV. It’s a wonderful, historic town, with lots to share with our region. It’s under-appreciated (largely because it’s been too insular), and I’m proud to help promote GV to greater California.
Having said that, GV is inundated (even in a strangle-hold) with tiny-town politics (on the left and on the right) — reported here regularly. For goodness sake, the people who went to high school together nearly 50 years ago still try to run the show (without enough transparency or inclusiveness).
It’s time for Grass Valley to reach out to a more diverse bunch. Who knows, it might even help them. Nobody that I know wants to change Grass Valley like this.
Kudos to the Grass Valley Downtown Association for presenting a Thursday Night Market that focuses on a marketplace for fresh, local food — a big trend by itself. “Buy local, shop local,” is the mantra.
The Thursday Night Market is not a venue to argue about small-town politics. Save it for another time and place.
If you want to discuss politics, comment here. Believe it or not, I never discuss politics at all outside of this blog. It’s more boring than what’s really going on in our community. And it’s a useful way to stay focused and not muddle local issues.
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Thanks Jeff. I am asking the BOD for a statement and will then post it. Jules
GVDA statement:
The Board of Directors of the Grass Valley Downtown Association is striving to create a “Hometown” feel to our Thursday Night Market. Feedback from the community was to have more local goods. The Downtown Association is responding by focusing on and promoting local farmers, artisans, hand crafters and downtown merchants and restaurants for our market.
Nothing says diversity like both left and right. Nothin’ wrong with that.
I won’t miss the Idaho-Maryland Mine booths at the fairs and markets (pro and con). I look forward to buying some fresh, local produce instead.
We’d also be happy to not have a booth opposing the mine.
Unless, of course, the BOD allows a pro-mine booth.
Nope. Won’t happen. Unless you can somehow spin straw(berries) into gold.
O’com on….If ‘all politics is local’ it gets a good work out
here in our little community. You can always walk by a booth. Or you could stop and meet a neighbor who might turn out to be OK. Or maybe not.
Peter,
The politicos are riding the coattails of the GVDA, merchants who pay BID dues and the farmers (who work their butts off growing fresh, local produce). That’s why people come to the “Thursday Night Market.” Let them organize their own political event. My hunch: A much smaller turnout for our small-town politics.
Nice try…it is a public event. Eat some good food, buy some good food, here some good music, and get the political sense of the community. Are the booth’s free?
Peter. It’s a GVDA event, so the GVDA can decide whether it wants political booths or not.
A lot of gray area here. What is ‘political’? The GV market has always had a lot of sellers boasting ‘local’ or ‘regional’ that come from farther away than many folks would call ‘local’ or ‘regional’ and there was a rumor (if not more) of sellers abusing the ‘organic’ claim there in the past. Is that not political? Prop 37 etc etc? Buying your food is political. I thought that separating the produce from the ‘other’ by section, Main St vs Mill St, and even running the growers market for a while before letting the others in, are great ideas. It would make sense to only allow stands for people who want to grow food they made on their farm (or some similar concrete, objective, well-defined delineation that isn’t subject to bickering), but, trying to come up with your own arbitrary definition of what is political and what is not is going to result in a lot more flared tempers, disenfranchised locals, and piles of blame (some legit, some not) being tossed around for a long time. This is all armchair quaterbacking since nobody was privy to all the inner workings like the GVDA, Ray D, etc, but, drawing an arbitrary and subjective line is asking for trouble.
I agree with Pete and Tom.
One man’s strawberry is another man’s politics.
You can walk by a booth just as easily as you can spin the radio dial past a station you don’t like.
Taking the example of another great local market, the Nevada City Farmers Market is like church for us, a cultural event, an energetic mixture of local food, produce, products. non-profits, issues, people and music. If it were just limited to food, we probably wouldn’t be so passionately committed to support it. We’d go there from time-to-time, but going there would have little to do with loving our community or deepening our sense of belonging to it.
The best local markets express the local community in microcosm, warts and beauty marks and all.
Expunging the expression of local politics, or — say — all non-profits, risks expunging the market’s soul.
A blog is a poor pale and bloodless venue by comparison.
I wonder if this is less about “soul” and more about piggybacking on somebody else’s event for your own political marketing/activism.
BTW, the GVDA sells associate memberships. We belong.
That’s my point, in a community, the best markets feel like they belong to the whole community.
In that context, the phrase “somebody else’s event” is nonsensical.
Don,
Why not organize your own “market” and focus on whatever you want it to be? A political activism market that also has some food stalls (at least in the summer), for example.
The GVDA is a BID (business improvement district), and its events are meant to promote the downtown merchants who are members. This is a food-oriented event to promote the local farms and restaurants.
You probably know this, but just in case, non-profits with booths at the summer market also pay a fee to GVDA each year, and that fee is almost as much as the (highest) corporate annual rate. Just saying.
One person’s “political” booth, may be another person’s “educational” booth. I have for many years attended the Thursday Market and enjoy the diversity of the offerings and the opportunity to chat to others from a wide spectrum of backgrounds and opinions. What better venue to listen to the community regarding issues that could have incredible impacts on their environment.
The move by the GVDA to exclude the 501C3s seems like a solution to a non-problem.
Who complained, and about what? (I mean, besides you, Jeff).
Don,
I didn’t complain. I just thought it was a good decision when I heard about it: You know, making food, local farmers, local restaurants and food education the focus of a food-related market that the GVDA and its members sponsor (with dues).
You can still hand out literature to the crowds that gather there, without a booth. Or create a voluntary “Free Speech Zone,” like the Foothill Farmers Market.
Jim Firth, who sent around the email I was blind “cc’ed” on, seemed the most exercised to date. I wasn’t sure whether he spoke for the DCC leadership or not.
The Dems/”progressives” need to crank it up in GV, that’s for sure, but complaining about whether there’s a political booth at a Farmers Market or not might be the best course of action.
In fact, it’s almost like scrubbing the deck of the Titanic with a toothbrush: After the Council election in the fall (Firth was defeated), it’s going to be a real uphill battle for the Dems/”progressives” in that town; including keeping a “progressive” seat on the Board of Supes.
This will require a grassroots, get-out-the vote campaign and a lot of knocking on doors (see video) — and perhaps new candidates. I wish them well, but making the GVDA the villain seems a bit misguided.
Farmers markets have been the towns gathering places for thousands of years around the world. Justice, poitics and injustice have always been discussed in many forms. The booths are usually volunteers putting forth educational materials and opinions. Learn something or not it is a simple choice for the markets customers. Eat, drink, dance, be merry, and go home with groceries and a better understandy of of the issues affecting our community.
Mike
Mike,
You are still welcome to do that, without a booth.
Jeff,
I sent you a copy of an email to the Political Outreach Committee of the Nevada County Democrats because of my concern that non-profits, including the Democrats were to be excluded from the GV Market this year. My impression of the market is (or was) that it’s a “community” event and encourages local food producers, craftspeople and interest groups to gather during some summer evenings to share their products and ideas.
The main objective of the Democratic booth at the market has been voter registration. We would typically register 4 or 5 new to the community residents or change of address residents each week. We also invited people to our First Tuesday educational forums, provided literature on local, state and national issues and distributed information for local affinity groups.
Our goal is education, sharing information with the broader community and building alliances. The GV Market provided that opportunity. We will continue doing the job of building a more democratic community.
Jim Firth
Chair
Nevada County Democrats
Thanks Jim. You can still walk around collecting signatures. Good luck!
Thanks, Jeff. I do appreciate your thoughts on this.
I wouldn’t go so far as to call the GVDA a villain, and I hope I didn’t imply that they’re anything of the sort. They certainly “own” the Thursday market in the sense that they have the power to decide who can participate in it and set up a booth there. And their intention is certainly pure insofar as they want to serve the businesses whom they are allowed to assess.
I’d just encourage them to take a broader view of what that market could be. In my view, the more diverse the market — in terms of participants, issues, products and groups — the more beneficial it will be to the community as a whole, as well as to downtown businesses.
And speaking of a broader view, the use of the word, “political” in this discussion is a bit of an inadvertent red-herring, and I own-up to my own contribution to this confusion (along with your use of the word, “politics” in your title), since I have been defending the politics.
But, as I understand it, the GVDA is excluding non-profits — not political groups per se — from the Thursday market. Based on my experience with local non-profits, I’d venture to guess that most try to avoid involvement in local politics. Many non-profits assume, possibly incorrectly, that the enabling 501C3 legislation specifically excludes all involvement in politics.
The truth be told, my broader concern is the apparent decision by the GVDA to exclude local non-profits, not political groups specifically.
Many of the smaller local non-profits, the ones who were not mentioned in the Union’s recent front-page article (the ones who aren’t grant gorillas) run almost entirely on fumes (strictly volunteer help) and have counted on that market for their outreach, and have enjoyed success there in increasing their membership.
As it stands now, the GVDA will continue to charge these non-profits an annual associate’s fee of $70, but will do nothing for them in return. For some reason (which still entirely eludes me) the GVDA is so determined to exclude these non-profits that it is willing to give up the $350 annual booth fee they were paying previously.
I haven’t seen the GVDA’s new guidelines (I’m not sure they’re available yet) so I may be jumping to an entirely wrong conclusion. But I did talk to “Lindy” at the GVDA by phone today, and what I have written here represents my understanding of what she said about excluding non-profits.
I asked her if she is at all concerned that the overall turnout might suffer due to this decision.
Her answer?
“No, people come for the vegetables.”
We could always get all the locally-grown vegetables we want at Briarpatch, California Organics or Natural Selections, supporting local growers just as effectively as if we bought at the Thursday market.
But — to us — the downtown market is much more. At its best, it’s a cultural event, and — like many people — we are drawn to that.
The GVDA would serve downtown business interests best by recognizing and honoring this fact.
Don,
The email that I was “cc’d” on was addressed to people within the Democratic Central Committee by Jim Firth. So it was squarely in the political arena, with a whiff of entitlement.
My hunch is that the GVDA is trying to stick with its mission of serving its members, who are the downtown merchants.
In the past, at least in my opinion, it has become overly focused on the events at the expense of the merchants whom they are supposed to support (in return for dues). It shouldn’t be in the “booth rental business” to generate revenue.
In fact, I’ve scratched my head at some past events, where food vendors are invited to set up booths on the street right outside a restaurant that sells the same item off its menu. I’d be sort of PO’ed about that if I was a dues paying member and that restaurateur.
If I were a struggling nonprofit in our county, my outreach would be via social media and the internet to grow my membership, not a booth at a weekly event during summer. It is a far more efficient and cost effective marketing strategy.
I’d like to make a wild guess at the new signs for the 2013 market:
“No Dogs or 501c3s”
Ray,
Come on. In our family, we regularly patronize GVDA merchants on days when they donate a portion of their receipts to 501c3s. The GVDA itself is a big supporter of nonprofits. Your sense of entitlement is unbecoming, even nasty.
“The GVDA itself is a big supporter of nonprofits.”
Sounds good.. What specific form does that support take?
We rarely purchase any veggies at this market. Most of the growers don’t seem to be from Nevada County. This event for my family is more about checking out the stores, good food, live music, and seeing friends… many of whom are with non profits.
Social media is faddish and probably over-rated as a method for local outreach. It’s a bit like Kurt Vonnegut’s Granfalloon.
Non-profits who have been successfully using the local markets for membership outreach will probably be underwhelmed by this consoling suggestion.
Don,
-Social media is changing how we communicate; it was instrumental in Obama’s re-election.
-The “new” farmers market will feature more local produce, and for the first time, it has cleared the way for people use their “food stamps” to purchase local veggies (like NC), and it will support the “healthy family” program for low-income people. The coordinator has been Pablo from Four Frog Farms, one of our favorites.
-The GVDA has helped nonprofits such as United Way launch fundraisers such as their BBQ cook off. They partner with nonprofits for various fundraisers and are a nonprofit themselves.
What a mud pit.
Tom,
Can you point me to the name calling? This sounds more like a rationale, fact based discussion.
Nope I can’t / don’t care to take the time to try. I didn’t read RL’s comment thread past the first few – not far enough to see if/where it became a flame war. Stirring the pot solely for the sake of stirring the pot is muddy by nature, regardless of what words are used. But that’s a different topic. It just seemed that your ridicule of RL for joining the commenting fray seems a bit misplaced in light of this thread.
I’m also a bit confused – how does the farmers market promote local restaurants?
Looking forward to seeing GVDA’s full statement / press release.
Anyway, interesting point you make regarding ‘what is GVDA doing holding a farmers market anyway?’ Perhaps they initially felt that promoting all the elements of the community – promoting the fact that this is a civically active place – had direct PR dollar benefit to the local business. How un-American.
Tom,
RL let his blog get out of control because he didn’t moderate. Sorry for him, but it goes with the territory. God knows, we all have something else to do. But if you run a blog, you have to be accountable.
I’m glad GVDA is holding a Farmers Market. The link between farms and restaurants is farm-to-table cooking. And the link to farmers markets includes locals who are instrumental in initiating some of the “good will” programs I’m referring to.
BTW, I love to cook, and we are regulars at the NC and Truckee farmers market. We go there for the great food!
Anyone have a list of GV restaurants that serve local farm products? I know of a couple of NC places, but not GV.
Diego’s, Summer Thymes, BriarPatch Deli, Gold Rush Burgers (Nevada County Free Range Beef) are some.
We go to Briarpatch all the time, of course – I will have to find out what Diego’s serves besides meat – I’m really more interested in who serves local produce at a sit-down/waited restaurant in GV. Don’t eat beef.
Christopher’s Deli, Diego’s, Gold Rush Burgers and BBQ, Bear River Pasta…. and sometimes Tofanelli’s
It would be a cool thing if the downtown restaurants and local farmers made a ‘link’ and served specials every thursday market with local veggies included in their recipes. I am curious if the market will be of the same size and if so, what takes up the space previously occupied by the non profits?
I have bought some food there, especially corn. And found it interesting to talk to many of the non-profits there and politicos. It provides a sense of what is going on, and another way of outreaching in our community. While social media is changing communications. It will never replace the in person, face to face discussion. What will be interesting is if the local food producers, which would be those not at this market, can support this market and the others in the area. Such as the NC Sat market, the Tuesday NC market, the GV Sat Market. This may limit participants.
Non profits and others are now out of the Market? Reminds me when a few short years ago the GVDTA tossed Lazy Dog Ice Cream and Way Yum Sushi out of the Thursday Market for no good reason, in direct violation of the Market rules. The community got mad and active, they went to the GVDTA Board and this bad, mindless decision was reversed by the Board.
In an act of Karma Lazy Dog Ice Cream and their new, wonderful shop on Mill Street is becoming THE place to go on Mill Street. And Way Yum Sushi has been doing great since the GVDTA tossed them out of the Thursday Market.
Did others notice that last years Cornish Christmas events in downtown Grass Valley were more than a bit barren? A lot of empty spaces, a lot fewer folks selling and attending. It was sad, while the Nevada City Victorian Christmas was running on all cylinders and packed with vendors and visitors.
I live in the downtown Grass Valley neighborhood. I and many of my neighbors spend a lot of money in downtown Grass Valley. We are the ones that spend money most every day in downtown. But here’s what some can’t grasp… the downtown Markets and fests are COMMUNITY events, not just promotion events for shops on Main and Mill Streets. These events are about COMMUNITY.
So I can’t buy my Rotary Duck tickets at the Thursday Market this year because non-profits are now kicked out? These non-profits do so much for our community and now they are kicked out of the Thursday Market? Is this a joke? So is the demand for booth spaces so high that the non-profits and others need to be kicked out to make room for others?
So this year I won’t be able to visit the Wolf Creek Community Alliance booth and talk to the volunteers that are working to clean up Wolf Creek, which runs thru downtown Grass Valley? They too banned from the Thursday Market? Is this a joke?
Seems some need to remember that taxpayers help fund the GVDTA and the Chamber with a lot of PUBLIC dollars. The GVDTA office is even in a Grass Valley, City owned, public owned building. The City just gave the Chamber an additional $60,000 out of the General Fund to rent office space on Main St. Remember that MILLIONS of public, taxpayer dollars have been spent and invested in fixing up downtown Grass Valley.
The City provides and maintains a number of “free” parking lots in the downtown for folks that want to visit and spend money on Main and Mill Streets. Mean time most of the Main and Mill St. businesses refuse to buy owner and employee parking permits to use these parking lots while at the same time wanting the City to fund additional parking in downtown for their customers.
What ever happened to all the taxpayers’ money that went to the GVDTA for the Amgen Bike Race? What a waste of public money that was.
I love downtown Grass Valley as many others do. Downtown is the arts and entertainment center of our COMMUNITY. Downtown is about COMMUNITY and the Market and fests in downtown are about COMMUNITY, not just promoting businesses on Main and Mill Streets.
Is the City of Grass Valley booth now kicked out too? Is the GVDTA going to kick them selves out of the Thursday Market? The GVDTA is a non-profit too, so their GVDTA booth should be kicked out along with Wolf Creek Community Alliance and the Rotary and others. .
I will predict that if this bad plan to kick out the non-profits and others goes forward that the Thursday Markets this year will see a number of empty spaces and fewer folks attending and spending money. I predict this bad “idea” will be reversed at some point, just like the bad idea to kick Lazy Dog Ice Cream and Way Yum Sushi was reversed.
The Thursday Market is a COMMUNITY event, a COMMUNITY gathering, it’s about COMMUNITY!
Steve,
I think the GVDA booth at the market is going to be expanded, so that literature of its members (including nonprofits such as The Center for the Arts) can be handed out to market patrons. We are associate members of the GVDA; we think it’s a great value.
It is about Community; getting the community out in the evenings. It is directly competing, farmers’ market wise, with others in the area. Not all of those in the area can sustain each markets held. It was obvious this year in Grass Valley that there were a number of those from out of the area only at the Grass Valley Thurs. market. Also, at Victorian, in the last couple of years, the booths, line up Broad Street in the middle of the street – giving it a full look. In the past booths lined up both sides of the street, with people walking up the middle. I worked for friends, who are now out of the area, at Victorian, and there are less people in attendance and definitely less booths.
So the GVDTA kicks out all the other non-profits but they keep their non profit booth? That seems a bit unfair.
The taxpayers help fund the GVDTA. The taxpayers have invested millions of dollars into downtown Grass Valley improvements.
Downtown Grass Valley belongs to the COMMUNITY, not one group. Guess the DTA didn’t learn the “kick out Lazy Dog” lesson from when they booted Lazy Dog out.
Thursday night Market is a COMMUNTY event, for the COMMUNITY, not one group. The street and sidewalks are owned by the COMMUNITY. The COMMUNITY groups should be “allowed” to be there too.
So this year I won’t be able to visit the Wolf Creek Community Alliance booth and talk to the volunteers that are working to clean up Wolf Creek, which runs thru downtown Grass Valley? They too banned from the Thursday Market? Is this a joke?
All this will back fire on GVDTA… call it the “Lazy Dog” effect.
Steve,
As I understand it, any GVDA member (including nonprofits such as The Center for the Arts) can distribute their literature at an expanded GVDA booth.
I suspect you’ll find all sorts of literature at that booth that is unrelated to GVDA and focused on one member’s business or another. We are associate members of the GVDA. I think we pay about $150 a year; we find it valuable to join.
Here’s what’s up at the NC Farmers Market: “Non-Profits – we often have had room in years past for non-profits to greet the community free of charge. This year, the market is really full, so we have less space than in the past.”
I presume anybody is free to stroll the market to hand out literature (of a political and nonpolitical nature) and educate folks.
I’m off to spring training for a few days, but I’ll bring my laptop along for work — and blogging. I’ll check out the Old Town Scottsdale Farmers Market if I get a chance and report back.
From reading these comments I can well imagine why the GVDA is experimenting with their market by eliminating the non-profit groups.
Let’s just see how it goes shall we? Perhaps it won’t yield the GVDA’s desired results and they will open it up to the non-profits again.
At any rate it is an experiment I am curious about.
Perhaps a little less of the kind of noise we experience on the blogs will improve the agora experience.
As for the myriad non-profs in our County, I wonder, are we thinking that we can run an entire community on charitable donations? I can tell you now, that is not a good plan at all, and it won’t work.
Jeff, I go for the market for food too, sunshine and music and conversation with friends and acquaintances we run into. I already know what I need to know about how I think the world should be run and nobody in a booth will can replace the knowledge it has taken me a lifetime to obtain.
There are a lot of folks whose very nature it is to herd. I call those folks sheepdogs when I am feeling generous and busybodies when I am cranky and sometimes, at the end of the day, I just want them to to STFU.
We get noise aimed at us all the time. Turn on your TV to relax and watch a home improvement show and you get commercials full of mucous monsters, chest-sitting elephants and pipe people who leak. All to create fear and the resulting profits for Big Pharma.
Forget about watching the news, may as well be “reality TV”, with everyone posturing and spouting and acting like barbarians. I get my news from more reliable sources.
Paying a fee to rent a stall for your indoctrination needs is not the same as paying full rent, utilities, employee wages, taxes and committing to a full time effort to keep a business going 365 days a year. Perhaps there is a bit too much of entitlement seeking among those who do not, and/or cannot, make that kind of commitment.
Finally, I do want to be sensitive about how I frame this comment, there are a lot of folks here who just plain missed the secure employment boat. Perhaps they never sacrificed for an education or trade. Perhaps they never held a job for thirty years, on graveyard shift, saving and being fiscally prudent because, well, that would be too much to ask of a free spirit. That’s for suckers right?
Now what? You hit 40 or 50 and you look around and you don’t have a real job or education, so you find a cause, write a 5013C and get busy drilling into your already strapped community of dunces who actually work for a wage.
To make this kind of living you need the swaggering self-assurance that you and your particular message are indispensable to the “great unwashed” and undereducated around you. You pick up competitors along the way and then commence fight over our bones. Enough noise and probing pockets, I say. We have way too many competing NP’s in this County and some are far more worthy than others. Can we be trusted to choose for ourselves the ones worth supporting? Do they really need to occupy our market places along with every other aspect of ur lives?
Maybe they do and maybe they don’t, but that’s what the GVDA will find out.
BTW, NC’S Victorian Christmas failed on two of its five nights because of, well, . . .snow in the Sierra Foothills. We tried, perhaps next year we will figure out a way to adapt.
Good luck to Grass Valley, our true Sister City.
Frankly, there is a whiff of desperation coming from some “progressive” organizers in GV nowadays. They had a golden opportunity to build on the successes of Terry Lamphier’s upset over John Spencer several years ago, but have since (for various reasons) let it slip in the opposite direction. One of them: Some folks just dropped out, focusing on other things.
As regular readers here know, I have staunchly supported the “progressive” positions that I agree with (the need for more accountability, transparency and political diversity at GV City Hall, for example, or voicing intense skepticism about reopening the IMM).
But I also have pointed out the need for more effective “progressive” leadership in GV.
It’s going to be a real battle for Terry’s supervisor seat in 2014; the gold mine has died (but only for now); and The Union is once again shoring up a political alliance with the old guard in GV (but without the vitriol of its previous management, making it more effective).
Though the county’s political demographics are becoming more balanced, GV is about back to where it was before Terry was elected. It will require a lot more than a booth at a farmers market to win that back. A “regrouping” is called for ASAP. I wish them luck, because there are some good, well-meaning people involved.
Could Judith Lowry’s post above be any more insulting and self serving about her hard work and life path vs. how she feels about those involved in local non profits?
You bet Judith… the folks at Wolf Creek Community Alliance that are now kicked out of the COMMUNITY Market are lazy, unsucsessful money whores that are in this to make money so they can lie around while you work hard.
Sorry, but the WCCA folks, like so many of the other nonprofit folks make nothing. They volunteer their time, they donate their time, their energy and their own money for a wide range of local community and far ranging causes to help make this a better place.
And let’s not forget Judith that the GVDTA is also a non profit, with taxpayer funded employess that has a stated goal of benefiting the businesses on Mill and Main Street.
So this year I won’t be able to visit the Wolf Creek Community Alliance booth and talk to the volunteers that are working to clean up Wolf Creek, which runs thru downtown Grass Valley. They too banned from the Thursday Market… how sad for our COMMUNITY.
All this will back fire on GVDTA… call it the “Lazy Dog” effect.
The Thursday Market is a COMMUNITY event for the COMMUNITY, not just the businesses on Main and Mill streets.
P.S. Judith… it’s sad that you think we are as you stated above… a “strapped community of dunces”.
Nice try Mr. Enos,
I think those who exploit the working class and the working poor feel that way about them, I do not. I respect them and mourn their fate.
Of course there are worthy non-profits, and Wolf Creek is definitely one of them, in heavy competition for those dollars.
I don’t mean to pick on the former incarnation of Animal Save, but as an example, they wanted a million dollar facility with acreage and all the trimmings and an event center. The community saw that as extravagant and did not go along with it. The result was not pretty. It happens too often.
Non-profits owe their donors and their beneficiaries the best possible financial responsibility they can manage, which in my book means you squeeze that nickel until the buffalo grunts and wring every bit of good you can out of it for the community and not so you can feel you have “arrived” at your executive position and your swanky citadel, and let the rest trickle down to those in critical need.
That’s the fiscal leak I’d like to see plugged.
Judith, “Nice try”… that’s your response to the issues I raised about the GVDTA and their banning of nonprofits from the COMMUNITY Market?
It’s sad that you think we are as you stated above… a “strapped community of dunces”.
We are not a “strapped community of dunces”. This is a hard working, wonderful, VERY giving community of people. I’m proud to live in this COMMUNITY of “dunces” as you claim.
The community is strapped, or do think we just like to live with a third world infrastructure, high unemployment and scant public services?
You pathetic attempt to incite the pitchfork crowd against me is falling on deaf ears.
Speaking of deaf ears, you don’t listen, and you are repeating yourself.
I won’t argue with you Mr. Enos. I have read your comments on blogs before. You appear have an A-type personality with explosive tendencies and you tend to sputter.
Go ahead and try to say something now so you can have the last word. It would fit your profile.
BTW, If you want to talk to your friends at Wolf Creek, nothing is stopping you from inviting them to your home for a good meal (pot luck?) and some great discussion. That’s how I get to know the folks I want to work with who don’t have offices or booths.
Wow — How bout those Giants.!!! Pennant Fever!
Judith provides a perfect example of failing to address the issues raised and going full bore personal attack, name calling, personal insults as a response to the subject issues, I guess that’s what some do when they can’t address the facts or the issues and blow a gasket.
I thought this type of off topic, personal attack B.S. was not allowed on this blog.
Steve,
Next time I’m going to invite you down to Spring Training with me.
The topic is, or at least was the GV downtown Market… not baseball. I have the Sports Channel for that.
Judith melted down and went off topic, personal postal. I thought that was a rule violation here.
I think the URL diggingaholetochina.com is still available. Glad we can agree to disagree.
The GVDA board should circle the wagons and re-think these proposed changes soon! This proposed policy will stimulate “ill-will” and hurt the downtown. Changing the market(post Ray Diggins) needs to be handled carefully. Our downtown(GV & NC) business districts are one of the most valuable community assets we have, and they are the perfect venue for “community” events. Peter V., Tom G., and Steve E. make great points on why the market should continue including community groups.
Please reconsider the decision to prohibit non-profit community organizations from participating in the street fairs. I think they serve a critical need for community education on issues of the day and provide an important low cost, effective venue for reaching our community. I have never witnessed any problems with folks having free speech.
I’d like to see Grass Valley be at the front lines for protecting free speech, not adopt the direction of further impairing those with few resources to get their messages out.
I put this in the category of “Citizen’s United” – not a good thing for democracy on our taxpayer’s public streets.
Clarification: ” I have never witnessed any problems with folks having free speech” via our local non-profits at our community events and political groups. Even those I disagree with. Over the last few years, they have been shut out of the Fairgrounds farmer’s market and the Northstar House farmer’s market. This is an unhealthy and dangerous trend.
In a country that is a democratic republic, it seems there are fewer options to exercise democracy and free speech for those with limited funds. Very limited access to shopping centers. No access to trailer parks, apartment complexes, etc. (the owners make decisions affecting all of their tenants, whether the tenants agree or not).
I believe money is a subset of society, not the other way around.
And how would it go over if protesters walked through the market place with protest signs? Probably would be worse for business?
And…all folks who live in Grass Valley contribute to the cost of our public streets, police who monitor street events, and other community paid-for services. In other words, the common areas, “the commons”, belong to all of us. While we need to support our businesses, it should not come at the expense of other parts of our community. I really fail to see the harm of having non-profits continuing to be a part of the face of, and interface with, our community.
Of course, we could have street closures to promote non-profits and political groups and exclude merchants and street vendors…guess that would be fair….
PS
A thanks to the Grass Valley Downtown Association website folks for allowing my above posts to stay on their site.
The GVDA communicated its views, including an expanded booth for nonprofit members. Some people just chose not to listen or didn’t like the answer. I’m glad to read Greg Zaller’s comment; it shows real temperment. Terry, did you meet or even call the GVDA board to get their view? Or did you just express an ideology, like most others? And what made you think they’d pull down your comments? Methinks you ought to get to know these folks.
So.. how many non profits can fit in this ‘expanded’ GVDA booth? Will it be standing room only and your message will be limited to your clothing and literature carried upon your person? This is a community/public activity and the onus for explanation should be on the GVDA. Their explanation was very similar to articles in The Union…incomplete. Ultimately the community will decide whether this an activity they approve of. Good luck to the GVDA…I think you’ll need it.
Going round in circles here: My advice (again) is to get the GVDA’s point of view before speaking out so vociferously. Also glad to see the facts getting out about the other market’s policies. Context is always helpful.
As for me, I will gladly volunteer to distribute any nonprofits’ brochure to any of the spots in the region (not just GV) that we distribute literature. For free.
And I also will volunteer to help any nonprofit with their social media strategy. Some of the Facebook pages, including the local Dems, aren’t set up correctly to maximize exposure. Again, no charge for that.
There are so many ways for nonprofits to grow and reach their audiences. My cursory analysis shows it is lacking, especially when there are so many competing voices.
Just email me on my Facebook page.
I would be interested to see some numbers after the GVDA holds a few markets. If receipts go up, it might mean that a heavy mix of non profits is a retail killer.
Remember the concern over the proliferation of ground level real estate offices in NC? I do, the town got very boring.
Let’s give the GVDA a chance to determine the lay of the ecomic land.
After all, they have more responsibility to the entire community than a booth owner.
And forgive me if I have misread these two charming “Gold Rush” towns, but money, seems to be the name of the game in these parts.