Sydney Vegan Market and other community events in limbo
THE popular Sydney Vegan Market has been put on hold for at least three months, delivering a $1 million blow to stallholders, small businesses and the local economy.
Inner West
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THE popular Sydney Vegan Market has been put on hold for at least three months, delivering a $1 million blow to stallholders, businesses and the local economy.
Several other community events including a cancer fundraiser are also in limbo after the not-for-profit Addison Road Community Centre in Marrickville copped a $6000 fine for hosting the March 3 market, the first held at the centre, which attracted a whopping 9000 people and 120 stalls.
The Courier has seen an “urgent” letter, emailed by Inner West Council staff the day before the monthly market, warning the centre it could be slapped with the fine if it failed to comply with its development application for a maximum of 25 stalls and 500 attendees.
Market organiser Kate Jones said they pushed ahead “to protect the livelihoods of the stallholders”.
“They were all prepared and had spent a lot of money so the loss would have been substantial,” she said.
At a recent meeting, Ms Jones said council staff told her they would need to wait 100 days “at best” for their new developemnt application to be approved.
“We estimate between $200,000 and $250,000 was spent just at the market so over the three or four months we can’t trade, that’s $1 million that’s not going to be spent in the inner west,” she said.
Centre CEO Rosanna Barbero described the $6000 fine as “heavy handed” and “devastating” and felt the council could have tried to sit down with them and work through the issues.
“We are a not-for-profit, local neighbourhood centre; we’re not a corporation,” she said, adding that $6000 could have bought groceries for 230 “food insecure” families who rely on the centre.
“The collateral damage to the community is enormous — we run programs for the most vulnerable people in our community,” she said.
The Refugee Street Food Markets, which allows refugees to stay off the dole, and a Cure Cancer fundraiser are among other events at risk due to uncertainty over what is allowed at the centre and long approval times, she said.
A council spokeswoman said: “Council officers are working with the market operators to help them understand the conditions of their consent, to ensure this new event operates within those conditions without having a negative impact on traffic and the amenity of the local area.”
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