Cheaters at the Market - The Biggest and Fattest Ones: A Series

Why the market management lets cheaters get away with it is anybody's guess.

It could be that they're friends with each other, or maybe kissin' cousins, or lovers perhaps.

It could be that somebody is being 'paid off' in some way.

It could be that nobody has ever really cared enough to deal with the issues even though they have been pointed out and complained about.

The CHEATER known as Denise Brock is a champion at it. Fuzzbollah believes she obtained seniority at the market illegitimately, and the City staff let her get away with it. Rules in place have not been followed, and Denise has the gall to make statements to the press about it. Any reform efforts have been thwarted because people like Denise Brock gang up with people like Glenn Thompson and make it seem like they have 'public' support.

Denise Brock apparently cheats even now. A search of the Michigan Department of Agriculture's website on this date showed she has no grower's license from the Michigan Department of Agriculture. A Grower's License must be obtained by vendors at Farmer's Markets in order to vend perennials. Both Denise and Carol Vena have been told by past Market Commissions that they must maintain separate businesses, and function that way at the Ann Arbor Market, yet they continue to operate closely together. The City won't enforce its own rules, so the cheaters get away with it, and put other vendors at a disadvantage.

Get a load of Denise's statement to the Michigan Daily (October 10, 1996):
"The booths here are assigned according to seniority," Denise Brock said. She vends mainly plants, candle settings and painted pumpkins. Of the 144 booths, 66 people have permanent booths and 70 come to the Market and set up their booths randomly.

Myla Snyder, a vendor of polar fleece hats, collectively sums up the opinions of the vendors when she said, "It's like we're family."

In Denise Brock's case, this may actually be true. Smiling and gesturing toward 50 or so booths with a large sweeping motion of her hand, she said, "One half of them are family, we're really related to each other."

Such monopolizing of a public space has continued long enough!!

Fuzzbollah says Boycott Denise Brock!!