Eric Morse –
In the wake of the unveiling of the Riverdale Farm stewardship
group in April, the city is moving ahead with its establishment of a similarbut-different structure for the St. Lawrence Market Precinct advisory committee.
A Real Estate Department report of July 2012 recommended that the precinct remain in public hands (i.e., not privatized) but that its community input be reorganized to include an advisory group consisting of two groups: first, specialists skilled in market operations and second, community and user stakeholders.
The new advisory group was to be set up at the same time as a planned
reorganization of Market staff relationships intended to devolve more operating and coordination authority to the Market
staff itself (for instance, to avoid service glitches like closing down a major toilet for renovations during peak season).
Under the terms of reference laid out last summer, a program advisory committee reporting to the director of real estate services
through the Market Precinct supervisor was established.
Its composition differs in significant ways from that of the Riverdale Farm group. As Ward 28 Councillor Pam McConnell’s office noted to The Bulletin, the farm body includes assorted relevant
skill sets in a group drawn from both the broader community and
the immediate neighbourhood, while the Market has a group of more directly concerned stakeholders as well as the community that must be accommodated.
The Market Precinct advisory committee is to be comprised of one representative of each of the South Market, Farmers’ Market, Antique Market, and St. Lawrence Hall, excluding Heritage Toronto, one representative from Heritage Toronto, one representative from the St Lawrence Neighbourhood Association, and one local business representative from the St Lawrence Market Business Improvement Area.