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       Cape Breton Farmers' Market locked out of building in dispute over
       unpaid property taxes
        
 (HTM) Source
        
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       The Cape Breton Farmers' Market has been locked out of its building in
       downtown Sydney, N.S., due to unpaid property taxes.
        
       Manager Pauline Singer said the market has struggled financially since
       the COVID-19 pandemic, but the landlord does not seem willing to work
       out a payment plan for the tax arrears.
        
       "We're not hiding the fact that we owe that money," Singer told CBC
       Radio's _Information Morning Cape Breton_. "Our priority right now,
       though, is that all of our vendors' products are locked inside of that
       market. A lot of those people rely on that for their sole source of
       income."
        
       Singer said under the terms of its lease, the market pays its property
       taxes to the landlord and owes about $25,000.
        
       She said the exact amount is not clear, but the market has been asking
       for a full accounting and has not received that.
        
       The market entrance was locked on Tuesday and Singer said she was
       hoping for a meeting sometime Wednesday to get the issue resolved.
        
       Pauline Singer says the landlord locked out Cape Breton Farmers'
       Market vendors on Tuesday in a dispute over unpaid property taxes.
       (Tom Ayers/CBC)
        
       The market's relationship with the landlord has been "contentious at
       best," but being locked out was a shock, she said.
        
       "We have been, over the last several months, trying to sit down with
       them and their legal representative to kind of work out a deal, to
       find out exactly how much we owe in back taxes and as well to set up
       some kind of repayment plan so that we can clear that debt up."
        
       Phil Dubinsky, the owner of the building, declined to comment,
       referring questions to his lawyer, Tony Mozvik of McInnis Cooper.
        
       Mozvik said the market owes about $76,000 in back rent and taxes,
       which has accumulated over the last couple of years.
        
       "The landlord has tried to work with the farmers' market," he said.
       "Unfortunately, the farmers' market has not had a viable board for
       about two years now."
        
       Mozvik said the board did not have a chair until about three weeks ago
       and after the market was locked out, the board elected a new chair.
        
       The landlord has the right to keep the contents of the market to cover
       the back rent, but Dubinsky intends to let the vendors recover their
       goods, Mozvik said.
        
       ## Pop-up market planned
        
       Both sides were scheduled to meet Wednesday afternoon.
        
       "The ball's in their court," Mozvik said. "They have to put together a
       plan to the satisfaction of the landlord that they can pay outstanding
       debts."
        
       In the meantime, the Pan Cape Breton Food Hub Co-op is hosting a pop-
       up market on Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. for farmers' market
       vendors.
        
       The co-op connects local food producers with customers and is located
       on the Trans-Canada Highway at 1415 Highway 105 on Boularderie Island.
        
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