Last month we reported that Community Board 3 (CB3) had drafted a resolution urging the Mamdani Administration to overhaul management of the Essex Market. The resolution was advanced by CB3’s land use and housing committee, but at the full board meeting held February 24, members voted to refer the issue back to the committee to, as the vote sheet indicated, “ensure (that) we are capturing all stakeholder input.”
The draft resolution cited “unresolved management issues,” shortfalls in building maintenance, inadequate staffing and under-utilization of parts of the facility, as well as other perceived shortcomings. The market is owned by the city and controlled by the NYC Economic Development Corporation (NYC EDC). The Lower East Side Partnership is responsible for marketing, community programming and vendor services, but its contract expires later this year. NYC EDC has informed the community board that a new community partner contract would be awarded through an open bidding process (via a Request for Proposals). CB3’s draft resolution called on NYC EDC to hand over day-to-day management to the LES Partnership.
Essex Market vendors were not present at the February 11 committee meeting in which the draft resolution was considered. They are expected to attend the upcoming land use and housing committee meeting, which is scheduled for Monday, March 16.
During the full board meeting, CB3 Chair Andrea Gordillo said, “I wanted to share that Susan (Stetzer, CB3 District Manager) and I went on a walk through (at the market) and were very grateful that all of our local elected official staff were able to join, and it was a good fact finding mission.” She said it was clear that the current management structure creates a certain amount of ambiguity and explained that CB3 is committed to working to resolve those issues. John Fout, vice chair of the land use committee, added that the walk through led board members to conclude that, “we didn’t capture all of the stakeholders involved, including the vendors. So our preference would be to re-hear this before taking a vote.”
The meeting will take place March 16, 6:30 p.m. in Community Board 3’s office, 59 East 4th St. It will also be available virtually. The Zoom link is available through CB3’s website.
