By Jodie Tillman, Times Staff Writer
Thursday, November 3, 2011
TAMPA — The Friday downtown market began as a way to lure office workers out for everything from fresh crepes to handmade jewelry to jars of organic honey.
But four years later, more than a dozen restaurant owners say there's a problem: The food vendors at the weekly market are cutting into their Friday business.
Throw in Mayor Bob Buckhorn's monthly food truck rallies, they say, and it's a losing recipe.
"I feel like I'm getting stabbed in the back," said Fred Castro, owner of Spain restaurant, which has been downtown for 32 years.
Castro and other business owners met Thursday with officials from the Tampa Downtown Partnership, the nonprofit agency that puts on the 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. market, which runs every Friday in October through May.
Some of them said their Friday ...