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  • From: Leigh Hauter <lh AT pressroom.com>
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Market-farming] Market Legal Problems --
  • Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2004 10:33:34 -0400

I'm sure, unless proscribed from doing so by a higher authority - state, federal government, the county can require any sort of permit it wants.

If you don't like your counties rules, change them.

The first place to start is to lobby your supervisors (or whatever they are called out there). You have your farmers and customers as a political base. Make appointments to see the different supervisors. Have a letter or e-mail writing campaign. Propose a county law exempting farmers' markets from all permits (or whatever). Have the supervisors speak to the bureaucrats and tell them to get off your back.

The entire permitting deal might also be just an over enthusiastic bureaucrat trying to regulate the riff-raff.

And if then, if lobbying doesn't work, run your own candidate and go after the supervisor you deem to be the most vulnerable and the most opposed to your position. Even if you don't win the election, you will probably win on the permitting deal.

(either that or do what walmart does when it plans to move into an area, bribe the appropriate politicians through campaign contributions - effectively laundered - and/or situate the big box in such a place that enough of the local powers that be are going to profit from it).

If you want to see a real nightmare for market licensing and permits try Washington DC. When I worked for a group a a decade ago that tried to set up markets in poor neighborhoods it became apparent real quick that there was no law that applied, but that also meant that there was no law giving you permission either. You could go from one agency to another and it was truly like Kafka's Trial. I understand today, with more pressure for market's it hasn't improved much either.

Another example in Northern Virginia where the various counties wanted, until real recently, to get rid of roadside markets. They demanded a permit from resellers. A permit that the county would not be issued. And they would swoop down on markets with the police looking for non-producer grown items so they could fine the market and shut them down.



Business permits, sure, but "special events" permits to assemble on private land, I don't think so.

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********

On 10/30/2004 at 8:00 AM Pat Meadows wrote:

On Fri, 29 Oct 2004 15:42:50 -0600, you wrote:


A permit to assemble on private land? No Arizona statute stipulating that
we're free and clear to do what we want?

Anybody else think this is absurd? Since when is everything against the
law that's not specifically permitted? Has Arizona gone communist? Do
churches need an assembly permit? How about yard sales?

Get a lawyer. Accuse them of communist ideas, see how they react. Better
yet, get a rope.


Businesses have needed various licenses, permits or
whatevers to operate in this country for many, many years.
The market is a business.

I expect that similar requirements exist in most or all
other countries, capitalist or communist (well, there's only
one communist country left, really).

Pat

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  • [Market-farming] Market Legal Problems --, Leigh Hauter, 10/30/2004

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