The Anchorage Community Development Authority voted unanimously Monday to extend a lease agreement for the city’s weekend market. 13 people testified.
The Anchorage weekend market will be around in the same spot for another summer, but it’s hard to say after that. Ted Carlson is the chair of the Anchorage Community Development Authority, the group that rents out a 7-acre parking lot to the market. He says the group will use the year to research the best use for the lot.
“The Public commented on keeping the Saturday Market. Some commented on moving it to the fourth Avenue. Some commented on having it both places. There was one that commented on doing away with the Saturday market. We are going to evaluate all of the comments that we got and then evaluate what’s the best use of that lot.”
Carlson says the ACDA will also conduct a survey. Bill Webb has managed the market since 1999 though his firm, Webb Consulting. The market has more 300 venders. Webb’s five-year contract to rent the lot was extended two additional years previously. He says merchants are trying to hijack the market.
“I think they are trying to hijack the market — nothing new, that’s been going on for years. They’ve bid against us every time it’s been up. We’ve never asked from an exclusive. We’re not afraid of competition and if somebody else wants to come down and bid against us, that’s fine.”
Carlson says the ACDA will make a decision on whether the market’s contract will be renewed again, next Spring.
Daysha Eaton is a contributor with the Alaska Public Radio Network.
Daysha Eaton holds a B.A. from Evergreen State College, and a M.A. from the University of Southern California. Daysha got her start in radio at Seattle public radio stations, KPLU and KUOW. Before coming to KBBI, she was the News Director at KYUK in Bethel. She has also worked as the Southcentral Reporter for KSKA in Anchorage.
Daysha's work has appeared on NPR's "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered", PRI's "The World" and "National Native News". She's happy to take assignments, and to get news tips, which are best sent via email.
Daysha became a journalist because she believes in the power of storytelling. Stories connect us and they help us make sense of our world. They shed light on injustice and they comfort us in troubled times. She got into public broadcasting because it seems to fulfill the intention of the 4th Estate and to most effectively apply the freedom of the press granted to us through the Constitution. She feels that public radio has a special way of moving people emotionally through sound, taking them to remote places, introducing them to people they would not otherwise meet and compelling them to think about issues they might ordinarily overlook.
