CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The West Side Market is a Cleveland treasure that must evolve to survive. But its owner-operators -- well-meaning though they may be -- have so many other pressing concerns that the market can’t get the priority treatment it deserves.
The owners are the City of Cleveland. No problem with that. The last thing we need is for a private developer to take over what belongs to the public.
But the city is also the operator. The West Side Market is part of the Department of Public Works. Those folks are rightly concerned with paving streets and picking up garbage in addition to tending to the market.
Even as the city is in the midst of spending millions to fix infrastructure issues that should have been addressed years ago, and vowing publicly to improve operations and step up marketing, it’s obvious the market is in trouble.
One of the produce wings is nearly empty. Turczyk’s Meats just closed. In recent years, so did Vince’s Meats, Apple Cured Meats, Annmarie’s Dairy, Avant Gardens and B.A. Sweetie Candy Co. And on New Year’s Eve, Maha’s -- the place that introduced me to the wonders of the falafel sandwich -- served its last chickpea patty there.
Market lovers say the place needs more, not fewer, places to get delicious food to eat while shopping for delicious food to cook. And it needs places to sit down and consume it, like other public markets have, such as the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia, where the DiNic’s roast pork and broccoli rabe sandwich still calls my name.
The West Side Market even added Sunday hours, like Reading Terminal, but still traffic is down.
The infrastructure investment -- roofing and electrical work and the like -- are vital. But that won’t be enough. What will save this Cleveland treasure and make it vibrant for the next 100 years are bold ideas and management ready to listen to and implement those new ideas. Operators whose sole focus is the West Side Market.
That’s why Cleveland City Councilman Kerry McCormack, whose ward encompasses the market, proposed moving to a not-for-profit management structure. The city would still own the market, but a board of concerned people would operate it.
“We put together a 200 page document and presented it to the mayor and cited examples across the country of how this has worked. In Cincinnati and Detroit and Philadelphia, for example,” he said. “We want to create a nimble organization that wakes up every morning thinking about the market and has experience in how to run a public market. It deserves an organization that only thinks of the market and is not baked into one of the largest bureaucracies of the city.”
The city’s answer? No.
Frustration is growing even as the city is responding to social media critics by putting out press releases and posting interviews about its plans for the market on Facebook.
Rocco Whalen, who owns Tremont's Fahrenheit Restaurant, whips up a creamy wild mushroom-leek pasta in front of 300 people at the Parma Snow Library this summer.
Chef and restaurateur Rocco Whalen tweeted out this wish on New Year’s Eve: “All I want for 2020 is for the city of Cleveland to let me run the West Side Market and I’ll take on the role for the next four years. I love the city and want to not see any more vendors leave. Sometimes the city needs to get out of the way.”
When I called Whalen, he told me he was dead serious.
“I have so many ideas and so many thoughts,” said Whalen, reeling off a few off the top of his head such as local breweries, hot foods, places to eat, a roster of parties.
“That market is a staple of Cleveland pride for the last 100-plus years. It needs to be rejuvenated,” he said. “We have the chefs, we have the cocktail people, we have the beer guys. Let’s make it so there’s something for everybody to do. The city has done it the way they know, and it’s tired. We need to blow some creativity into it.”
Some ideas in McCormack’s proposal: A professional marketing firm to attract shoppers, clear and fair lease terms (and multi-year leases) for vendors, employ the city’s economic development department to attract diverse new vendors, look at expanding hours to catch people coming home from work, develop vacant spaces such as a second floor locker room formerly used by vendors and develop for public use alleyways outside the market.
It may be a stretch for a city to hand over the market to a local chef who, though successful in many of his endeavors, has never run a market. But how about listening to his ideas?
The city hasn’t had a history of being receptive to ideas. Restaurateur Alan Glazen proposed last year that the nearly empty produce wing be turned into a showcase for local products with seating. The city rejected the plan. He never even got a meeting with the mayor.
McCormack believes folks like Glazen and Whalen would be great members of a not-for-profit board running the market. It would include city officials, vendors, shoppers and other stakeholders. It could raise needed funds to complement the millions the city is plowing into the structure and develop ideas to keep the market an indispensable asset in the city.
“There are a lot of good ideas out there in the community,” he said. “Swing open the doors to new ideas.”
Related West Side Market stories:
City pledges funding to West Side Market as closed vendor’s social media post creates stir
‘I don’t see changes’: West Side Market vendor responds to city’s statement about improvements
City rejects Alan Glazen’s plan to redevelop portion of West Side Market
West Side Market’s iconic building harbors a hidden world
"Market" - Google News
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To fix the West Side Market, should Cleveland step aside? — Michael K. McIntyre - cleveland.com
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