One thing that seems to be lost in the distressing dispute between the Roots in the City Farmers Market and the city of Miami’s Overtown/Parkwest Community Redevelopment Agency is transparency.

If, as the market’s founder, retired university professor Marvin Dunn, and others believe, the CRA wants the three-year-old initiative out of the way to allow for the building of a charter school, then it should come out and say so.

Of course, that would mean justifying closing down an initiative that teaches inner-city residents gardening skills, provides jobs and grows crops that feed people. It is difficult to imagine the CRA has an appropriate justification, at best. While a charter school will be useful, there is no guarantee that it will open – or stay open for long.

If the CRA wants the land on which the market exists, then the officials, including CRA Chairman the Rev. Richard Dunn, owes the founder the courtesy of a frank, open meeting to discuss the matter and come up with alternatives, including one of providing alternative land.

This is not rocket science, just commonsense.