Paranoia or PR?

THE operator of Fremantle Markets took to 6PR today to talk up its bid for a 20-year lease extension ahead of the Fremantle council meeting tomorrow.
Why? What would make Fremantle Markets Pty Ltd think the City will not extend the lease? Only one councillor has spoken out against the proposed business plan and called for an open tender.
Why all this running around by FMPL to prove its loyalty and commitment? Threats, name grabs, emails, peace offerings and live radio interviews?
Director Jamie Murdoch said “hopefully” the City would renew its lease so, “essential and urgent works” including electrical upgrades and a new roof, could begin under FMPL’s promise to spend, “up to $3 million’, on the rundown heritage-listed building it has managed for nearly 50 years.
Callers invited to the station said the lease should go to public tender and described the markets as a, “stinky junk shop”, and nightmare for stall holders who did not tow the management line.
Tony said: “It used to be fantastic, but it has lost it’s market appeal. It has just become a stinky junk shop. It’s not truly a market place as such.”
Adam, whose parents once worked at the markets until they were turfed out by the Murdochs over what he said was a minor matter, said the markets should go to public tender: “It’s not a markets anymore.”
He added the markets was just a, “cash cow for the …”, before he was cut off by 6PR.
Only Cotton Pickin trader Phil Dawson called in to supported the lease extension and pointed out it was council’s responsibility to maintain the markets building: “How council spends its money is their decision.”

Why all the angst and attitude?

In May, FMPL CEO Natasha Atkinson told FPOL, her voice quivering: “We have been incredibly loyal.”
She said: “If the council proceeds to tender or you chose not to renew the lease with FMPL you will force us to move the Fremantle markets to another location which will provide our 150-plus tenants with certainty they require to operate their business.”
At that meeting, Mayor Hannah Fitzhardinge said there are, “really deep inherent risks”, going to market including losing the name ‘Fremantle Markets’, which she claimed incorrectly the City did not own.
Two days after FPOL, FMPL registered ‘Fremantle Port Markets’, ‘Freo Port Markets’, ‘Markets Fremantle’, ‘Original & Still the Best Freo Markets’ and ‘The Original Fremantle Markets’. On May 17, ‘Fremantle Markets’.
The name grab, reported by StreetWise on May 24, followed six failed attempts by FMPL, five times in 2005, to trademark the historic Freo name owned by the City.
In June, Ms Atkinson wrote to vocal critic Fremantle Society president John Dowson asking to meet in person to discuss certain, “mistruths or perhaps misconceptions”, in articles Mr Dowson had published.
“I genuinely believe that working together towards a common goal will yield far greater results than working against each other,” she wrote. “By joining forces, we can pool our resources and expertise to pursue grants and funding opportunities that will contribute to the successful restoration of this iconic landmark.”
On August 9, FPOL then accepted the business plan based on a suspect ‘public’ survey in which a third of the submissions were from FMPL’s tenants (108 out of 340).
And possibly A.I., according to Cr Vujcic who noted the high number of identical and repetitious submissions of which 44 were from people in a mystery location CEO Glen Dougall cannot explain.
The following day, Mr Dawson wrote to the CEO and all elected members stating he could not believe Cr Vujcic claimed artificial intelligence or some ‘conspiracy’ was used to compile submissions.
“Cr Vujcic is not in a stable nor unbiased mind to take an honest and fair decision on this important issue,” he wrote, having stormed off after FPOL while Ms Atkinson also was clearly angry at her comments.
“We could see the guy (Mr Dawson) with Natasha Atkinson was very angry about what Marija had said,” according to South Fremantle resident Margaret Ker. “Then Natasha came over to us and asked us who we were and why we were at the meeting. She specifically asked if we were journalists. Quite bizarre. She had possibly seen us talking to Marija before the meeting.”
Also attending FPOL, Ian Ker said he felt, “threatened by the way the Markets CEO came over to us.”

Additional Markets stories at streetwisemedia.com.au.