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Roslindale farmers' market opens this Saturday, now with extra parking
By adamg on Fri, 06/03/2011 - 12:25pm
The weekly Saturday market in Adams Park was so successful last year people were running into problems finding a place to park. Rick Ward from the Roslindale Village Main Street Farmers' Market Committee reports a deal with the MBTA to let people parking in the lower commuter-rail parking lot for free - the lot with the entrance next to the Citizens Bank where South Street turns into Belgrade Avenue.
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Comments
Do MBTA customers get a free
Do MBTA customers get a free fare, or are the only ones getting a subsidy are those rich enough to afford a car?
From what I understand,
From what I understand, Roslindale Village Main Streets is footing the bill, so it's not exactly a handout from the MBTA.
Another issue is that the
Another issue is that the parking in the commuter rail lot is priced for all-day weekday parking. It's slot-box parking, which isn't set up to charge the much smaller amount that would make sense for an hour of parking on a Saturday.
So the standard weekday price, or free, are the only feasible options.
(Also, I hear it's not enforced on weekends anyway.)
Oh, I hadn't realized I was
Oh, I hadn't realized I was rich. Sweet!
It's the local shops that benefit
The problem has been that farmers market visitors have been taking up the free parking in the square, which has affected local businesses who need those spots to be open for their customers. I don't think the intent was to subsidize those who drive to the farmers market, but rather to make sure that the farmers market and the local business district can coexist. Given that it normally costs $4 to park in the MBTA lot, I don't think it's any surprise that everyone ended up trying to squeeze into the free spots, and this seems like a reasonable way to address the issue. If providing free bus fare solved some actual problem the farmers market was having, I'm sure they would consider it. Who knows, maybe they'd consider it anyway as a way to reduce the number of cars in the square, if they could figure out some way to verify that you arrived by bus. Why don't you propose it to the organizers?
Do MBTA customers get a free
In 10-15 years, you'll be driving your kid to soccer practice in your SUV and cursing the bicycle-riding hippies.
parking for the farmers market
Since the Roslindale Farmers' Market is sponsored by Roslindale Village Main Street (RVMS) whose mission is to attract shoppers to Roslindale Village, one of the unintended consequences of a successful farmers market was lack of parking for other businesses in Roslindale Village. At considerable expense to RVMS, the organization leased the lower lot every Saturday June-Oct. to help provide more parking for Roslindale Village bussiness and for farmers' market shoppers. No subsidies no hidden agenda. Just want to free up on-street and municipal parking opportunities in the Taft Hill lot. While some may say that the MBTA did not enforce parking fees on Saturday, the MBTA is within their right to do so and could have done so on any Saturday. Now the lower MBTA lot is essentially leased by RVMS for the duration of the farmers market on Saturdays. Hopefully businesses in Roslindale Village will capitalize on the opportunity to bring some of the 2000-2500 farmers market shoppers into their stores. South Street from Adams Park to the lower MBTA lot is now much busier with more pedestrians going back and forth.
The last time I checked, T
The last time I checked, T fares only paid for about 25% of operating costs, and the rest was subsidy.
And that's the average. It's probably subsidized more on weekends.