Jamie Murdoch - lies and betrayal
Remember this comment from last years March 6th Special Council meeting. Jamie Murdoch stated:
“We don't want to lose any stallholder’s; we want all the stallholders we have to come along. We have 200 stallholders who are all fantastic people who we want to continue. We don't want to preclude any stallholders from anything.”
We are committed to a secure low cost trading environment despite capital expenditures and trading initiatives.
Once stallholders realized what the new agreements, the rent increases and the Markets redevelopment meant, they knew they had been conned.
Mayor Tagliaferri and Mr. Dougall made public assurances to stallholders in relation to the safety of their businesses under the new Murdoch regime. Those assurances have meant nothing to the long established stallholders who have lost their livelihoods; Bob Williams, Mary Cole, Richard Murphy, Penny Bannister and others. Just this last week-end further rent increases have been issued and more stallholders are preparing to leave. The assurances meant nothing to the Murdoch’s. They have totally disregarded them.
And from the minutes 6th March 2008.
Summary of response from Jamie Murdoch:
They will still have their position. (Many will be relocated into smaller and totally unsuitable places, so much so, that continued business is impossible - they have been forced out of the market!) The whole Market will still come alive on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. All stallholders are welcome to come along for the future of the Fremantle Markets for the next 20 years that the Council and the Working Group will govern, we are not precluding anyone. (No, they are culling them ) We have a database of 200 fantastic stallholders and we want to give them the opportunity to come along for the next 10-20 years.
Summary of question asked by Cr Bill Massie:
So the current stallholders are guaranteed security?
Summary of response from Jamie Murdoch:
They are guaranteed security under the working group and under the lease. (The only security offered through the Working Group is a new lease, they are not actually guaranteeing that existing stallholders will retain their businesses or premises. The Working Group does not include a stallholder representative) The lawyer that the stallholders have engaged, there was a meeting that a couple of the Councillors went to prior to Christmas and the lawyer said that the stallholders will have more security under the new lease then the old lease. The new lease allows us to offer our stallholders a 5 year lease, with the opportunity for a 5 year option. ( No, they have reniged on this and are not offering the 5 year options) We want our stallholders to continue, we have a database, as I said, of 200 stallholders who are all fantastic people. There are initiatives that we want to implement, so the 3 day a week markets stays but there are various sections of the market that can come alive on the Tuesday or a Wednesday or whenever to suit the various need that Lee and Anne have identified.
Summary of question asked by Cr Bill Massie:
So the weekend market would not be forced into working 7 days?
Summary of response from Jamie Murdoch:
No. We have gone through that process with the Thursday trial. These initiatives are just initiatives, to sit down and discuss and consider. (They are now talking about running the markets in 2 parts with the new food area operating 4 or 5 days a week)
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Labels: fremantle markets evict tenants, john and jamie murdoch
posted by Editor at 1:53 PM
3 Comments:
I'd love the markets to be open 5 days a week! So many tourists come to Freo and are always disapponited when they find the markets are shut on the day they're there.
Renee, I think you should write to the minister for tourism and suggest that they could subsidize the high rents at the markets and that way everyone would have a win.
If you ever become self-employed yourself you will quickly work out that your income must be greater than your outgoings. Why not take a walk through the markets next Friday and then compare the traffic flow to the crowds on Sunday.
If you worked at the markets you would probably find that you might break even or perhaps lose money on the Friday.
You would also gain some insight if you contacted the ex-owners of shops in the Pavilion Markets in Subiaco. They could explain to you how much it cost them to open on Thursdays. The food hall did quite well in the beginning when they offered cheap and good food and parking was easy. When the rents rose and the parking metres appeared, the place became a ghost town.
Many people lost a lot of money and half the stores were closed for a year or two before the final axe fell.
The Freo markets are looking at opening 5 days a week but only in the proposed deli area. This will not be a food hall but a small goods outlet. Let’s see the tourists flock to this; tourists undoubtedly will be mesmerized by Annie’s cooking demos.
The markets are by nature a casual and leisurely shopping venue much like nightclubs are a nighttime venue. Businesses must understand their demographics.
It may appear that the markets are a 3 day business but what people don’t understand is that most of the stalls retail on week ends but at least 2 or 3 days are involved in making goods, picking up, packing and labeling stock.
How or when will a potter make pottery if they are in the markets 5 days a week? How will the fruit and veg guys load up and unload their trucks and get the freshest produce from the growers? When does the artist paint or the jeweler design?
Almost every business at Freo markets operates from home during the week and retails on the week ends. It is impossible given the small stall space to manufacture or store goods at the markets.
But, then again, the pottery lady has already walked away due to the rent increases, so has the lady who painted ceramics. The home made candle shop is up for sale, the fresh seafood shop has gone, the antique shop, the kite shop has also gone and others are hanging in by a prayer.
Some shops have been offered smaller spaces in inappropriate places and others have just been downsized or relocated.
The bookshop is gone and the final nastiness of the management saw her depart with them coming in and painting her ceiling before she vacated – destroying her stock with paint splatter. The Murdoch’s have also told the produce guys that they can no longer access the markets on Monday or Tuesday. This just makes things that little bit harder and it’s just another example of the bullying that is going on. There is so much more that I would like to say about this but to protect the identity of people I must stay quiet – for the time being.
If the council or the management won’t fix these problems right now then I would expect that come the end of financial year many others will not be renewing their leases. The markets will become a deli operating separately from the main building and the only survivors will be the higher priced merchants or the trinkets, baubles and sunglass shops.
Oh, that’s right the sunglass guy gave notice last week!
Have you ever tried explaining that all to a tourist? Perhaps you could give them pamphlets when they get off the plane.
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