New Amsterdam Market Has Come to an End

New Amsterdam Market, the long-running outdoor food market at South Street Seaport, has come to an end after nine years. In a note to supporters, founder Robert LaValva writes: "I was never able to raise the funding or attract the influential backers needed for our organization to thrive. Furthermore, we were dealt a mortal blow in 2013 when Council Member [Margaret] Chin, who had long professed to support our cause, betrayed the community in favor of a suburban shopping mall developer, Howard Hughes."

The market, which modeled itself after the public markets of old New York, was a weekly or monthly gathering of local and sustainable food purveyors near the site of the Fulton Fish Market. Besides meat and produce vendors, Luke's Lobster, Lonestar Taco, Jimmy's No. 43, and many others regularly sold prepared food there. Chefs like April Bloomfield, Michael Anthony, Peter Hoffman, and Dave Pasternack were all longtime supporters of New Amsterdam. LaValva has fought hard against the incoming mall and condo developments planned by the Howard Hughes Corporation, but sadly with little headway. As a result of the new developments, he writes, "Lower Manhattan has already lost more than one acre of beloved and irreplaceable public space and is now seeing its most precious public asset ruined by inappropriate programming and terrible waterfront design." New Amsterdam had planned monthly markets through the fall, but those will no longer be held.
· New Amsterdam Market [Official Site]
· All Coverage of New Amsterdam Market [~ENY~]