Amanda Czuchraj helps her parents with their meat sales, and also with the Candy Counter. While she has a college degree in mathematics, she's pretty sure she'll carry on the family tradition at the West Side Market.
"I really think I will. My parents are quite a few years from retiring, so I kinda wanted to branch myself out and try to do something with my degree. But I have a good feeling that I will be back here real soon," she says, laughing.
Amanda may be back, but the West Side Market she and her parents have known for years will be different, if city planners have their way. Just how to keep the market around for another century has sparked some prickly debate.
City Councilman Joe Cimperman of Ward 3 says for starters, hours should be more for customers, not vendors.
"Nobody that I know gets off work at 4 in the afternoon," says Cimperman. "So instead of being open from 7 in the morning to 4 in the afternoon on a Monday, what if we were open from noon until 8? Y'know, looking at things that make the market more user-friendly, but ultimately create greater revenue for the vendors who are there."
Other suggestions include opening the market for more than four days, a throwback to when Cleveland had several other markets. But for meat vendor Vince Bertonaschi, these proposals cut to the bone.
"I just separated the brisket from what they call the navel...with a handsaw," Bertonaschi explains from inside a chilly, blood-stained prep space in the market basement. As president of the West Side Vendors Association, Bertonaschi says the only changes for the market should be upgrades to its plumbing and electricity, and expanding parking. Beyond that...
"If it's not broke, don't fix it. Please."
Bertonaschi says vendors feel that if the City of Cleveland mandates new hours, it would cut into their prep time. There are also concerns that the city will more tightly regulate vendor leases, which could tie up the selling process or limit products. He says if officials aren't careful, the West Side Market could lose what makes it unique from grocery stores. He compares his meticulously trimmed cuts of beef to what's trucked into supermarkets from major beef processors.
"Those companies are bigger than our steel mills used to be. Things have to get done in a hurry, not no fooling around. You can go into a store, and this guy only does it `cause it's his job. Does he care? No. I do this because my heart's in it."
Many proposed changes are based on surveys conducted by Ohio City Incorporated, a private, non-profit partnered with the City of Cleveland. Its feasibility study is due out next month. Amanda Dempsey, the Market District Director for Ohio City Inc. - says that will help launch a capital campaign, to fund improvements at the West Side Market.
"Mechanical, structural, electrical, plumbing, sewer, accessibility, life safety, things like that…and a budget figure for each of those improvements."
Besides its centennial, the West Side Market will host the International Public Markets Conference this fall….another event that's prompting the fix-ups. The city has already allocated $400,000 for some electrical and plumbing upgrades. Ohio City Inc. says at least $3-million more is needed, and has been seeking private donors.
The West Side Market is an enterprise fund operation, with rent money from vendors as its main revenue source. Some have suggested privatizing the West Side Market, to make its operations more consistent with other markets, and to boost revenues.
Comedian and Cleveland native Drew Carey and a member of the libertarian Reason.com website met with the Cleveland City Council in 2010.
"My idea is to sell it to somebody who knows how to manage a market," said Carey. "If I wanted to be mean about it, I would open a market right next door to the West Side Market, and put you out of business."
But others say the facility should remain public. Ken Silliman is the Cleveland Mayor's Chief of Staff. He says while they're working towards complete financial self-sufficiency for the market, they won't privatize it.
"We've done a very good job of preserving a unique local and national asset. The West Side Market's a major reason we are hosting the public markets conference. The city has constructed the market, it's a real landmark in Cleveland. All that's happened under city ownership."
And then there are comparisons to other markets….like Pike Place Market in Seattle, where its "flying fish" schtick draws tourists, who love to see vendors hurl a halibut. But don't expect to be ducking flying fish, sirloin, or baklava any time soon in Cleveland. Amanda Dempsey of Ohio City, Inc. says she likes the energy Pike Place brings to its district, but the West Side Market has its own merits, rooted in a long-standing community tradition.
"Our market is unique where we have a lot of vendors who have been at the market for generations, providing food on a daily or weekly basis for customers, where Pike Place is much more of a tourist attraction."
Just what changes lie ahead for the West Side Market is still being deliberated. But between the centennial and International Public Markets Conference, Councilman Joe Cimperman says change is definitely coming.
"We can never become so apathetic to the fact that people have more choices now than ever, to think that if it's well enough, leave it alone," says Cimperman.
"That may work for today, that may get us through the centennial, that's not going to get us to our sesquicentennial."