Jeff Gahan's residential goals are contradicted by his farmers market boondoggle.

Let's see if I understand recent events here in the Magic Kingdom.

Mayor Jeff Gahan has declared downtown residential construction as his latest short-term election year civic goal, and so we're about to devote $2 million or more of dwindling TIF district clout to incentivizing an out-of-town builder of "upscale" apartments to build some of them on the redundant Coyle acreage.

Meanwhile, scant blocks away, local builders like Matt Chalfant, Steve Resch and the Carters also are providing residential space by retrofitting historic buildings with little if any incentivization.

By doing so, they're making it more likely that the value of the space currently occupied by the farmers market will increase, making it a prime target for residential infill -- and a payday for the city, which owns the lot.

Therefore, instead of treating it as such, and leveraging maximum value from this property, we're about to spend $250,000 to take the farmers market property completely OFF the market, devoting the space to a farmers market inhabited primarily by out-of-town purveyors, at a time when peak farmers market may have been reached (below).

Even if the peak has not been reached, and the farmers market is a magnet worth cultivating, we're ignoring cogent and compelling reasons to move it to other city-owned properties nearby, where at least it might assist in regeneration of another block or two. Instead, we'll lavish a quarter million dollars on improving the current location, thus undermining Gahan's stated goal of maximum residential construction and refurbishment.

See what attenuated attention spans can do? It isn't pretty, but it can be remedied. After all, it is an election year.

Meanwhile, I support a farmers market funded with public money only if the public financial support is proportionate to the potential benefits. Currently, that's simply not the case.

Possible reasons for "peak farmers market" include these:

• We've Hit Peak Farmers Market
• The Local Food Economy Is Maturing
• The Recession Slowed Everything Down

Here's the rest of the story.

Are Farmers Market Sales Peaking? That Might Be Good For Farmers (NPR)

After more than a decade of explosive growth, sales of local food at U.S. farmers' markets are slowing. A January report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows that while more farmers are selling directly to consumers, local food sales at farmers markets, farm stands and through community supported agriculture have lost some momentum.