Farmer's market, Ralph Johnson and White Street Landfill

The Greensboro Parks and Recreation Commission voted 7-1 to approve new recommendations for the Greensboro Farmers' Curb Market tonight, which essentially reiterate the current policy of giving preference to locally produced goods.

The approved recommendations include an interesting note about enforcement: "Need for higher management to support enforcement procedures of the market management. If vendors are violating the rules, they should be held accountable. If a vendor or customer voices a complaint, it should be referred in writing to market management for investigation and resolution.

"If elected officials are contacted by vendors, request that they allow market management and staff to work through the process."

One significant change: "None of the three management positions should be allowed to sell at this market. This recommendation is intended to reduce the perceived conflict of interest that currently exists at the market."

Browns Summit vendor Mike Faucette argued that the current arrangement of allowing the manager to also sell at the market has worked well because the manager is familiar with the other vendors and understands their needs.

Commissioner Carl Brower, a member of the working group that formulated the recommendations, said, "The manager said he had broken the rules, so to speak, to help another farmer get a space.... That substantiated why there were concerns."

The linchpin of recent conflicts among vendors at the farmers market has been the abuse of variances, which give vendors the right to resell items that they do not themselves produce if no other vendor has it in stock.

The approved recommendations state, "VAC to review and make decisions regarding applications."

This would seem to suggest that the Vendor Advisory Committee has final authority over granting variances.

Not so, says Parks and Recreation Director Greg Jackson: "The ultimate decision would be up to the manager."

I intended to ask Jackson to explain this seeming discrepancy, but I had to run to Democratic NC House District 58 candidate Ralph Johnson's campaign kickoff at the Forest Oaks Country Club.

I'm not certain whether the policies approved by the parks and recreation commission tonight are final, or if they have to be ratified by the city council. (I welcome any clarification on this point from readers. Hoggard?)

I caught the tail end of the speeches at the kickoff for Johnson, who is making the case that he should replace fellow Democrat Alma Adams as the representative for District 58.

Greensboro District 2 Councilman Jim Kee was caught off guard by Johnson's request that he make the closing remarks.

Kee formerly served as co-chair with Johnson on the Concerned Citizens of Northeast Greensboro. He told me afterwards that he also volunteered on two of Adams' campaigns, and received her endorsement in his successful bid for city council last year. So Kee will be making no endorsement in this race, although he said, "I think Ralph will make a great representative."

Mixing with the politicos at the event was Bob Mays, whose company, Cico LLC, is proposing to reopen the White Street Landfill as a waste-to-energy facility.

Both Kee and Johnson were circumspect in their comments to me about the landfill.

Kee said he favors the city hiring a consultant to sort through the proposals for solid waste services received by the city. As an Aggie, he considers himself a proponent of technology, and favors proposals by Ulturnagen and Cico over a host of proposals for traditional landfills by a handful of competitors. He thinks the Waste Industries proposal supported by Simkins PAC member Joe Williams will be a "hard sell" in northeast Greensboro. Returning to Ulturnagen and Cico, he mentioned the powerful word "jobs."