Update on Trad Foods of MN & Mpls Ordinance changes for Mpls. Farmers Markets

[Guest guest]

Greetings All ~

During the past year there have been ongoing meetings concerning the closure of

Traditional Foods of Minnesota, the unlawful seizure of our foods and 'rights to

freedom of choice', current laws and ordinances of both the city of Minneapolis,

state of Minnesota, MDA, along with so much more. As of last week, the City

Council of Minneapolis finally changed the ordinance for Farmers Markets within

the city. There were many meetings prior to this which market managers attended,

along with the public being able to speak their voice as well. Below I have

attached a letter written to the members of Traditional Foods which covers the

above in more detail.

You can also check out the website called: Homegrown Minneapolis, which details

the cities initiative to encourage a local, healthy and sustainable food supply.

This is what Trad. Foods is all about and I continue to hold the vision of its

reopening and many more like it!

Mueller

Garden Life~Living Foods

November 9, 2011

Dear Traditional Foods Members,

From: Traditional Foods of Minnesota

Warren Burgess

Re: Current update on the status of Traditional Foods of Minnesota

And the Minneapolis City Council Ordinance Changes

The work that has been going on for over a year to allow Traditional Foods

Minnesota to legally reopen has finally succeeded with the Minneapolis Council

passing last Friday modifications to their ordinance for the Minneapolis Farmers

Markets.

Recent steps that I did was attend and speak at the " Industry Meeting " on

October 17th at the Minneapolis City Hall, followed by the " Public Hearing " on

October 24th. In the public hearing I noted that Council Member Schiff stated

that the ordinance had been changed last year by the city council to allow

Farmers Markets to be run indoors. " We passed that last year " Council Member

Schiff stated. He also asked the name of the underground (may have used another

word or phrase) that had been operating in southern Minneapolis. The presenters

of the ordinance change did not know that answer.

The interesting thing about a public meeting is that any person present gets an

opportunity to talk to the Council Members present. After several people spoke

including our member Amy Storbakken, I also chose to speak on our members

behalf. Amy talked about the need for home producers to have somewhere to sell

their products during the winter months and she also questioned the proposed

requirement that the controlling organization be non profit. When it was my turn

I actually felt very privileged as this was the culmination of over a year work

to get to this point.

The first thing I spoke on was to address Council Member Schiff's question and

state that the answer to the question he asked was " Traditional Foods

Minnesota " . My choice is not to be thought of an underground business ever

again. Council members know about the business and several are very supportive.

Yesterday I was rung by Council Member Quincy's aid to inform me that the

council had approved the ordinance change I had been involved in and the next

steps he thought he needed to do for us to allow the warehouse to reopen. These

steps include going back to licensing and zoning to ensure that we will be

allowed to operate in an I2 zoning (industrial).

The new rules for the classification we will be running under of " Produce and

Craft Market " . This is more open than the " Farmers Market " rules and really

reflects what we were doing before we were closed. There will be new " rules "

that Vendors will have to comply with but these should be much clearer now as

they are better defined in the new ordinance.

During all this period I would like to acknowledge the help of many people

including , Amy, Chad, Alan and Mark, Joe and Barb.

Also Steve from " Bobby and Steve " , and more recently , our landlords, are

still subsidizing our rent. Please continue to use their gas stations services.

There is a good article on the Minneapolis City Council meeting in November 5,

2011 Star Tribune paper (Saturday) on page B3. It is titled: Minneapolis Revamps

Farmer Markets Rules. There was also posted today an additional article on the

Minnesota Public Radio's website, however the Star Tribunes write-up is much

more accurate. Please see:

http://www.startribune.com/local/minneapolis/133277803.html

Mpls farmers markets will require more vendors to be farmers | The Cities |

Minnesota Public Radio

One final thought, this episode in my live is all about choice. I choose to be

fair to all and operate within the law and others choose to do something else.

This is right and/or wrong you may ask yourself and my guess is that both are

probably right.

IT IS ALL ABOUT FREEDOM OF CHOICE.

Thank you for your continued support, patronage in the past and holding hope for

the future re-opening of Traditional Foods of Minnesota and others like this!

Thanks to all those who began this endeavor especially Dr. Will Winter and

Rebekah Leonhart and others who continue to pursue freedom of choice and access

to healthy and sustainable foods. Please feel free to contact me (or

Mueller - 952-472-1678) if you have questions. We will keep you updated as we

progress forward and Quincy's aid is working on the Mayor (RT) to be present at

the " Grand Reopening " which hopefully is soon.

With deep gratitude,

Warren Burgess

Business Manager,

Traditional Foods Minnesota

Phone: 651-295-4826

Email: wmburgess@...