The Show Horse and the Work Horse
Not emphasized in Johnny’s post, there’s also a ton of neighborhood pushback against flea markets and such in many communities. Basically the wealthier folks don’t like the aesthetics of these things, and will argue that they’re a nuisance or crime-magnets or whatever, a thin veneer over the discomfort they have with anything that draws a low income crowd.You’ll see things like the “Sunday Farmers Market” that closes a block of a street somewhere because temporary event permits are much easier to get and harder to block, but the kind of semi-permanent marketplace described in the article remains rare.And he’s right, cities don’t have a lot of incentive to try and make space for these sorts of entry level incubator environments because in most cases they can’t skim any tax off it - the underlying property is still just a parking lot and they usually can’t reassess the value for impermanent activities happening on top.