Past difficulty with administration of the farmers market in Central Park persuaded the City Council to vote for a new strategy in 2008.

In the past, the city issued one seasonal sale on public property permit to an independent organizer of the market, but “problems have been ongoing with this arrangement,” City Administrator Bruce Miller wrote in a memo to the Council March 3. Included in the problems is that the person who purchases the license becomes the marketer of city-owned boulevard, charging a fee to other vendors. There have been numerous complaints about this arrangement lodged for several years, Miller wrote.

To head off future problems, the city will grant itself the permit and become sponsor of the market. Participants will be allowed to sell their merchandise on boulevard space chosen on a first-come, first-served basis. “

Because this is such a small-scale event, the participants would self regulate within the allotted sale times,” Miller wrote.