A week ago on Saturday, I arrived at the Farmers Market and found it abuzz with the news that the City of Santa Barbara was planning to build the new police headquarters in the parking lot that has been the market’s home for 35 years. I felt blindsided.
So apparently was Sam Edelman, general manager of the S.B. Certified Farmers Market Association, as were the directors of the association’s board, and all the farmers and regular customers. Edelman had first been informed of the city’s intention to evict the market on October 13, less than three weeks before.
On Monday I spoke with Brad Hess, head planner in charge of identifying a suitable new site for the Police Department. What it boiled down to, said Hess, was that the Louise Lowry Davis Center and the Farmers Market parking lot were the only two feasible locations. A conversation with Edelman confirmed what I feared, that the Davis Center wouldn’t be seriously considered due to its status as a donated park and historical structure.