Ahead of Wednesday night’s discussion on the future of the Essex Street Market (Community Board 3/Land Use Committee), the Times ventures downtown to discover an “unlovely” place where “bonds run deep.”
After taking a little abuse from the Shopsin clan, reporter Cara Buckley surveys merchants about the possibility that the market will be demolished and relocated, as part of the Seward Park redevelopment plan. “For the merchants, the prospect elicits an array of reactions, from dismay to denial to ambivalence,” she observes, adding:
What is certain is that a move would disrupt the delicate ecology of the place, where relationships among vendors have been forged, and forced, by close proximity and the simple fact that nearly every shop is essentially an open-air indoor stall.
We’ll have more on the upcoming meeting on Monday. A neighborhood group, Save the Essex Street Market, has collected 1634 signatures on its online petition to preserve the 1940 market buildings
