We, the undersigned make the following 2 requests for the reasons that follow:

1. We petition City of Salem leaders to protect our historic Salem Farmer’s Market in its present location at City Hall crossroads, on the corner of Main & Broad Streets, as an open-air market without any building on top of it. We ask that it be placed in an appropriate permanent conservation easement for future generations; and,
2. We, the undersigned, also petition our City of Salem leaders to offer a second public hearing on the future of our Salem Farmers Market;

For the Reasons that Follow:

Whereas NO LEGAL ADVERTISEMENTS referred to the Salem Farmers Market as its commonly-known name, “known as the Salem Farmers Market,” during the process of the public hearing on the Market’s future or in the Request for Proposals process that followed; and,

Whereas, for the Public Hearing newspaper advertisement involving the Salem Farmers Market, this well-known property was inserted into a list of numerous properties listed only by address/tax map #; Whereas Salem residents would not recognize the Salem Farmers Market property by address or tax map #, but would recognize the property by its commonly known name, “known as the Salem Farmers Market;” and,

Whereas, in the remainder of the legal advertisements involving the Salem Farmers Market property during the Request for Proposals process and consideration of sale and development of the “buildable air rights” of this Market property, the advertisements did not specifically identify this property AT ALL except as part of a group of “...various other City-owned properties in the Downtown Area.”

Whereas, the City has positioned itself to sell the “buildable air rights” above the Salem Farmers Market after advertising a public hearing in the middle of Summer vacation (advertised July 15th for a Public Hearing July 25, 2016); and,

Whereas NO ONE SPOKE on the subject of the Salem Farmers Market property at that public hearing in the middle of Summer Vacation where the Farmers Market was not clearly identified in its own Public Hearing legal advertisement as “known as the Farmers Market;” and,

Whereas, the City of Salem legal advertisements can and do use common names for properties as they did in some of the advertisements for 8 W. Main Street where it was described as “formerly known as the Auto Body Shop;” and,

Whereas, there was no overt, visible and public effort by the City of Salem to advertise the potential sale of “buildable air rights” to develop a high-rise hotel/building/parking garage on top of our present Farmers Market location, either during the development of our Downtown Master Plan or since; and,

Whereas the Citizens of Salem highly value this beloved, well-known and popular gathering plaza as an “open-to-the-sky” Farmers Market/Public Square/Outdoor Performance Venue in its present central location at our City Hall Crossroads corner in the tradition of Salem, VA as a Market Town since at least WWII years;

We petition our City Leaders as described above.