THERE WILL BE NO FARMERS MARKET MONOPOLY IN MARTUNI
I went to the Mayor’s office today as I had a need to visit with the regional minister on business and while waiting for a call from the regional minister, the Mayor and one of his staff members were writing a decreed and also discussing the rental of the Martuni bazaar.
The decreed was to regulate the sales of fruits and vegetables, limiting their sales to the bazaar and to once and for all rid people from selling their garden goods on the sidewalks.
As they drafted the decreed, I listened to the Mayor’s staff member suggest a decreed that would effectively give the bazaar a monopoly on all vegetation goods that were sold in Martuni, to the point that in order for farmers to sell their goods to stores, it would have to go through the bazaar.
I objected to the wording of the decreed and said that I understand the intent, but this decreed would effectively create a monopoly and with that, they would get fallout from the natives and possibly soil the Mayor’s name.
They rewrote the decreed so that any individual that chooses to sell retail would have to do so in the bazaar and that they could still sell wholesale to stores.
Then I asked who the bazaar belongs to, as a month ago, the Mayor offered the bazaar to me and after thinking about all I am doing right now, I really would be biting off more than I can chew and declined the offer. So the bazaar belongs to the Mayor’s office and they are renting it out to a man who for the last 5 years has been asking the Mayor for work. This is also a man that when Monte Melkonian came here, he told Monte that Martuni was his (this in a confrontation).
I told him I know of the man, but don’t know what the terms are of his agreement and I would hope that there are limits to what he can charge for space to someone that is obliged to renting a space there, now that there will be a decreed that requires them to be in the bazaar. He said no, there is no real agreement other than the man pays each month a percentage of his income.
I advised the Mayor and his worker that they should defiantly put limits on what can be charged, as if they don’t then again, they could come under attack from the natives from creating a monopoly and then allowing this man that rented the bazaar to stick it to them and then people will say that since the Mayor’s office is getting a percentage that they did that on purpose.
I then asked them what percentage they are expecting from this man? The worker told us that they are due 50% of the profit. I asked him how he is going to know what the profit it and the Mayor said that would it not be better that we get 10% of the gross? The worker thought that 50% was better, but after a few arguments, 10% of the gross was much easier to manage and it seems that this is what they will do.
I’m really glad I was there as this tells me that if I was not there, the monopoly was defiantly going to formed and there would have been no limits as to what could have been charged to the person renting. This type of thing is not uncommon here and knowing the Mayor as being a fairly honest person, he was agreeing to the original terms out of a lack of experience.
I went to the Mayor’s office today as I had a need to visit with the regional minister on business and while waiting for a call from the regional minister, the Mayor and one of his staff members were writing a decreed and also discussing the rental of the Martuni bazaar.
The decreed was to regulate the sales of fruits and vegetables, limiting their sales to the bazaar and to once and for all rid people from selling their garden goods on the sidewalks.
As they drafted the decreed, I listened to the Mayor’s staff member suggest a decreed that would effectively give the bazaar a monopoly on all vegetation goods that were sold in Martuni, to the point that in order for farmers to sell their goods to stores, it would have to go through the bazaar.
I objected to the wording of the decreed and said that I understand the intent, but this decreed would effectively create a monopoly and with that, they would get fallout from the natives and possibly soil the Mayor’s name.
They rewrote the decreed so that any individual that chooses to sell retail would have to do so in the bazaar and that they could still sell wholesale to stores.
Then I asked who the bazaar belongs to, as a month ago, the Mayor offered the bazaar to me and after thinking about all I am doing right now, I really would be biting off more than I can chew and declined the offer. So the bazaar belongs to the Mayor’s office and they are renting it out to a man who for the last 5 years has been asking the Mayor for work. This is also a man that when Monte Melkonian came here, he told Monte that Martuni was his (this in a confrontation).
I told him I know of the man, but don’t know what the terms are of his agreement and I would hope that there are limits to what he can charge for space to someone that is obliged to renting a space there, now that there will be a decreed that requires them to be in the bazaar. He said no, there is no real agreement other than the man pays each month a percentage of his income.
I advised the Mayor and his worker that they should defiantly put limits on what can be charged, as if they don’t then again, they could come under attack from the natives from creating a monopoly and then allowing this man that rented the bazaar to stick it to them and then people will say that since the Mayor’s office is getting a percentage that they did that on purpose.
I then asked them what percentage they are expecting from this man? The worker told us that they are due 50% of the profit. I asked him how he is going to know what the profit it and the Mayor said that would it not be better that we get 10% of the gross? The worker thought that 50% was better, but after a few arguments, 10% of the gross was much easier to manage and it seems that this is what they will do.
I’m really glad I was there as this tells me that if I was not there, the monopoly was defiantly going to formed and there would have been no limits as to what could have been charged to the person renting. This type of thing is not uncommon here and knowing the Mayor as being a fairly honest person, he was agreeing to the original terms out of a lack of experience.
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