No Decision on Watauga County Farmer's Market

At the County Commissioners' "pre-budget retreat" on Saturday, the subject of leasing the parking lot at the Social Services Building on W. King Street came up again ... somewhat contentiously.

Commissioner Jim Deal wants to do everything possible to keep the market viable and intact, so he said he was in favor of leasing the parking lot on Saturdays during the summer to the Watauga County Farmers Market for $1, with the market paying for county costs like an attendant, clean-up, etc.

Commission Chair Nathan Miller said he thought $7,500 rent was reasonable. We can't just let the market use a county asset for free, when we could be using that asset to raise money, Miller said.

Deal: But who else is wanting to use that space? And you're not looking clearly enough at the benefit the market is to our county. We have big budget issues, but $7,500 isn't doing to make a dent in that, and killing the market will affect many people negatively.

Commissioner Vince Gable said that he'd agree to $5,000 in rent. He also said the market was for profit and that the county should not be facilitating a for-profit enterprise.

Deal said the Watauga County Farmers Market itself is non-profit, though individual vendors are making money. But no one's getting rich, and it's a service to thousands of people, Deal added.

Commissioner Futrelle said, "It would be a travesty if our actions caused the break-up of the market."

The commissioners were very aware that a new board of directors will be voted in at the Farmers Market in March, and in the end they suspended their argument, agreeing to wait until there is a new market board to negotiate with.

Clearly, there will be no unanimity going forward on (a) the value of the market to the citizens and (b) whether county government should nurture it.

Watauga County Commission 1/4/11

As Long As It Doesn't Cost Any Money
At the Watauga County Commission meeting this morning, the mantra among those presenting proposals for approval became "and this isn't going to cost the county any money."

That was because the new Republican majority was trying hard to assert its perceived mandate for "budget hawk-ism." But after much discussion, every vote still went 5-0, with the Republican newbies going along with the essentially "progressive" stream already flowing. As long as it doesn't cost any money.

How can new projects for bettering infrastructure and enhancing environmental quality of life not cost more money? Through grants. There are still agencies, private and public, giving away money to local governments for worthy projects.

For example:

1. Extending the greenway another 1.4 miles north from Brookshire Park on the New River. The Tourism Development Authority asked for permission to spend some of its fund (collected from the county-wide occupancy tax), which will be matched on approximately a $4-for-every-$1 by the NC Clean Water Trust Fund, to acquire easements to make the extension possible. Ultimately (one hopes), the greenway might extend all the way to Todd and connect to the Boone Greenway under the Hwy 421 bridge and connect to the new Rocky Knob bike park being built now.

There is, of course, a slight burden on the county ... for maintenance and upkeep. The new commissioners expressed concern about that. Rob Holton, as chair of the Tourism Development Authority, crystalized the fundamental question: Is the benefit greater than the cost? (If you know the cost of everything and the value of nothing, you're an economist and not a leader with vision.)

2. The commissioners also granted Economic Development Director Joe Furman permission to seek grant money to fund a local Natural Products Conference in March, to encourage local entrepreneurial development.

Farmland Preservation
At its first meeting in December, the new Republican majority, on a motion by Mr. Vince Gable, voted to "accept" the new "Watauga County Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Plan." That language in Mr. Gable's motion -- "accept" rather than "adopt" or "approve" -- created a major snag. To get reimbursed (by the grant from the NC Dept. of Agriculture) for its $18,000 cost in producing the plan, the Commission must explicitly "adopt" or "approve." On a motion by Mr. Jim Deal, the commission this morning voted 5-0 to amend its minutes from December 6 to reflect that they had "approved" the plan. (I have a copy of this highly detailed roadmap for enhancing sustainable agriculture and the local foods movement and plan to write more about it in the future.)

Epic Fail
The leash agreement worked out between the old Democratic Board majority and the Watauga County Farmer's Market, for Saturday use of the social services bldg. parking lot off the Poplar Grove Rd. Extension, which was up for final approval ... suddenly crashed, as Chair Nathan Miller wanted to know why the County could allow that use for a measly dollar a year (plus costs of supplying county staff to keep the Social Services bldg. open on those Saturdays), when the Farmer's Market had been paying some $10,000 per annum to Horn in the West.

One might almost conclude that the new commissioners have dollar signs for eyes.

Christmas Miracles

With a pressing need to avert our gaze from the parade of self-justifications being offered by various Bush administration megalomaniacs and the petty cannibalisms of current politics, we turn to a short list of what fills us with holiday spirit:

1. David McCullough's biography of John Adams. Yes, we know it's seven-years old. But so what? When we finally picked it up, we found we couldn't put it down ... all 700+ pages of it. The most absorbing historical biography we've read in many a year. Made our heart swell with appreciation that our constitutional democracy ever came together in the first place.

2. A handful of brilliant movies (look for 'em at Fat Cats Music & Video):

In Bruges ... worst film title but the best film we saw in 2008 ... monumentally profane and laugh-out-loud funny ... intricate and deep and Colin Farrell's best movie role ... evah

Under the Same Moon and The Visitor ... two very different examinations of the illegal immigrant experience, the first a kind of fantasy of reunion and redemption focusing on a very young Mexican boy who finds his mother, the second a parable about the closing of the American heart post-9/11 and its potential for reopening through shared humanity

Old movies that transported me to places I've been but forgot existed: Babette's Feast, self-denial and self-sacrifice in the most unlikely landscape; Wings of Desire, Wim Wenders’ lyrical ode to humanity from the point of view of angels; Secrets & Lies, Mike Leigh's searing yet hopeful descent into the underbelly of "family," perhaps the perfect accompaniment for the Year of Obama

3. The nature photography of Dale Forrest, particularly the remarkable photograph he took of five wild tom turkeys in the Great Smokies spreading their tails simultaneously for his camera. He calls that shot, appropriately, "Bachelor Party." This and other of his photographs can be seen in the flesh at Framing by Lori in the shopping center off Shadowline Drive near the Harris Teeter.

4. The Watauga County Farmer's Market, shut down for winter now (sigh) but due to open again the first Saturday in May, leaving us with just the tangible pleasures of seed catalogues through these cold months, particularly the Vermont Bean Company’s wish book and Seeds of Change and all the others that flood our mailbox this time of year and dazzle us with summer dreams.

5. Which brings us to Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle," a book that both delights and infuriates us ... the delight arising from Kingsolver's wonderful, funny prose recounting a year of living dangerously entirely (or nearly so) off the land in southwest Virginia; the fury arising out of her exposure of what we Americans have done to our food supply by divorcing ourselves from our connectedness to the land and allowing soul-less corporations to get a stranglehold on our food supply.