Dear Editor:I attended the Tuesday night City Council meeting April 13. One of the items on the agenda was the closing of Woodruff Avenue on Sept. 11, 2010 for a walk from Stonewood Center for East Middle School and back from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m., and all but Mayor Anne Bayer voted against the closing. Another of the items on the agenda was moving the farmers market from 2nd Street to Downey Avenue, encompassing the first two blocks from Firestone Boulevard to 3rd Street every Saturday of the year. Three of the council people - Roger Brossmer, Luis Marquez and Mario Guerra - voted in favor of the closing and Bayer and David Gafin opposed the closing. By closing Downey Avenue from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., the city would interrupt the flow of 4,000 cars each Saturday (according to their statistics) and they felt that that would be OK. Guerra said he contacted most of the merchants on Downey Avenue and 75 percent were OK or ambivalent, while 25 percent were opposed. The major reason for wanting to move the farmers market is because Porto's Bakery is coming and the city doesn't want the entrance to their bakery and restaurant to be blocked on a very important business day. The three council people obviously don't mind inconveniencing the merchants on Downey Avenue or the traffic flow through the city on such an important business day. The mortuary holds funerals at any time convenient for the families and closing the exit to Downey Avenue makes it very inconvenient. Rethink this vote - move the farmers market to the bus station or a park. Don't foul up Downey Avenue. - Bob Udoff, Building Manager, Downey Avenue and 3rd Street

Dear Editor: Location in business indicates if you will be successful or if you will be a failure. At the current time the farmers market is in a position to have parking at its disposal, which means it has a two-story downtown public parking structure, across 2nd Street it has the Auto Club parking lot and all of the adjacent parking lots. This enables customers to park close to the market, purchase their products and continue their day. If you move the farmers market to the area of Firestone Boulevard and 2nd Street, you are asking the customers to park two to three blocks away. Do you really think you will keep people coming to purchase products and carry the contents to their cars? Realizing that, Councilman Mario Guerra's plan is to bring people to the downtown area and it is earmarked for failure. Look at the merchants located on Firestone Boulevard -- store after store closed, and why? No parking. As far as I am concerned if the City Council moves the farmers market to Downey Avenue, this project is doomed. I hope the city make the right decision regarding this move. - Gil Hille, Downey

********** Published: April 23, 2010 - Volume 9 - Issue 1