Theodore A. Spitzer
President

Theodore Spitzer is a nationally recognized expert on food markets and alternative local food systems. His core competencies include feasibility analysis, market research, urban planning, and program evaluation.

Over the past 20 years, he has helped communities throughout the country to develop, revitalize, and improve their public markets and the neighborhoods around them. He is leading a team that is assessing the feasibility of a new wholesale farmers’ market in New York City, work that included ground breaking research in demand for locally grown foods among buyers in New York City and potential supply from regional farmers. Mr. Spitzer has recently directed consulting efforts in Louisville, Lynchburg, New Haven, Baltimore, Toledo, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and Springfield, Massachusetts.
Mr. Spitzer has recently become engaged in large-scale program evaluation. In partnership with New York University and Karp Resources, he is leading a team that is evaluating the SchoolFood Plus Initiative, a broad-based effort to improve meals served in the New York City public schools and purchase foods from New York farms, funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Mr. Spitzer was recently engaged as the Lead Evaluator for the NYC Food & Fitness Partnership, also funded by the Kellogg Foundation.

As Project Director for the award-winning Portland Public Market in downtown Portland, Maine, Mr. Spitzer oversaw all aspects of the creation of a new, year-round indoor market with 25 fresh food businesses in the downtown core, including the project’s initial concept development and feasibility analysis. He then directed the Market’s operation from its opening in October 1998 through October 2001. Under his leadership the Portland Public Market received the Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence, the HUD/AIA Community Building by Design Award, and awards from the American Planning Association, International Downtown Association, and the American Institute of Architects.
Mr. Spitzer’s academic training includes urban and regional planning, local economic development, statistics and econometrics, and public affairs from Columbia and Princeton Universities.
With Hilary Baum, Ted Spitzer co-authored Public Markets and Community Revitalization (Urban Land Institute/Project for Public Spaces, 1995), which has been called the definitive guide to the field. The book provides an in-depth look at public markets throughout the United States, discusses their benefits and the challenges to developing markets, and presents a comprehensive approach to public market planning and development.

Mr. Spitzer is the founder and past president of Farm to Market, Inc., a nonprofit corporation that operated businesses within the Portland Public Market in order to ensure Maine
farmers and food producers ongoing access to the Market’s customers. Experience gained in establishing and developing Farm to Market, Inc. provides a further foundation of specialized knowledge to inform Market Ventures’ consulting practice. With his wife, Mr. Spitzer is the owner/operator of Maine’s Pantry, a very successful store started within the Portland Public Market that features specialty foods produced in Maine.

In 1991, Mr. Spitzer was a founding principal of Public Market Partners, a tax-exempt, nonprofit organization that works in partnership with communities to plan, develop, and manage public markets and related projects. He has helped create new markets and has provided planning assistance to existing markets throughout North America, including the Maxwell Street Market in Chicago, the Dallas Farmers’ Market; and the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia. Mr. Spitzer authored the initial redevelopment plan for the North Market in Columbus, which has been successfully relocated and expanded. He helped develop and manage the Bronx Sunday Market and the East Harlem Community Market, seasonal, open-air markets located in low income communities in New York City.
Prior to co-founding Public Market Partners in 1991, Mr. Spitzer was Associate Director of the Public Market Collaborative, where he co-directed a $350,000 HUD-funded public market technical assistance program and provided assistance to seven cities. He led a consulting team in a major management and design study of the French Market in New Orleans and was the program director and organizer for the first International Public Market Conference. In 1989, he co-founded and chaired the New York Food and Agriculture Network, which lobbied city and state government on food and farming issues relevant to consumers in NYC.

In 1984, Ted Spitzer joined Project for Public Spaces, Inc., an organization dedicated to developing strategies for spurring downtown rebirth through the improvement of public spaces. In 1986-87, Mr. Spitzer conducted extensive research into comprehensive downtown management organizations, which was published by the American Planning Association. Amongst his consulting projects, he worked on projects in Opa Locka, Florida; Hoboken, New Jersey; Pittsfield, Massachusetts; Washington, D.C.; and Brooklyn, New York.

Education
Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, Master’s Degree in Public Affairs and Urban and Regional Planning, 1995.
Columbia College, Columbia University, B.A. in Urban Studies, 1987.

Publications and Presentations
“Alternative Local Food Systems,” American Planning Association National Conference, March, 2005.
“Public Markets as an Economic Development Strategy,” News & Views, Economic Development Division, American Planning Association, January, 1999.
Public Markets and Community Revitalization, Urban Land Institute/Project for Public Spaces, Washington, DC, 1995. Produced under a grant from the Surdna Foundation.
“New Orleans’ Evolving Public Market,” Urban Land, Urban Land Institute, February, 1991.
“Maximizing the Benefits of Farmers’ Markets,” Center City Report, International Downtown Association, January, 1991.
“Successful Downtown Management. Part One: Leadership and Cooperation,” and “Successful Downtown Management. Part Two: Changing Roles of Downtown Organizations,” PAS Memos, American Planning Association, April and May, 1987.
Market Portraits: the Magic of Downtown Farmers’ Markets (videotape), Project for Public Spaces, 1989. Produced under a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Civic and Professional Affiliations
Board of Directors, Cultivating Community
Coordinator, Portland School District Wellness Policy Team
Trustee, Portland Public Library
Board of Directors, Greater Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce
Board of Advisors, Open-Air Market Net
Treasurer, Levey Day School

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