When I read a couple of weeks ago that the Boston Public Market Association was getting a home in the long-vacant Haymarket T Station building I was elated. That building desperately needs a tenant, and a public farmers’ market would solve many problems for those of us in downtown Boston who want locally grown food year-round. It would also help local farmers, bakers, cheese makers and fishermen find more customers for their products.

I knew the people who had started the association, and they were first-rate. I had written checks supporting the effort. I followed their attempts to aid Massachusetts agriculture and aquaculture from the year they located on the old Northern Avenue bridge to their market at Dewey Square. A Boston Globe article called the proposed market a tourist attraction. Silly me, I thought it was for the workers and residents of downtown Boston.

But I was worried by one sentence: “the timetable remains fluid . . .”

Was this going to be another one of those promises Boston can’t keep?

The answer came a few days later in the Boston Herald. The Herald had “discovered” that Greg Bialecki, the state’s Secretary of Housing and Economic Development, was one of the founders of the Boston Public Market Association. “Conflict of interest” the Herald snorted.

The Herald, apparently, hadn’t known at first of Bialecki’s prior involvement with the association. Whoops. Everyone else did.

Not that it matters. It’s not as if Bialecki and Dan O’Connell, Bialecki’s predecessor at Housing and Economic Development, who was also involved in the public market, were doing anything but supporting Massachusetts farmers and eaters. The department’s spokeswoman said that Bialecki’s office has no involvement with the funds or the process, although it wouldn’t bother me if it did. Neither Bialecki or O’Connell will profit financially from the Boston Public Market Association. In fact, one of the reasons both men were appointed to their positions was BECAUSE of their involvement in efforts like the market. They don’t have a conflict of interest. What they have is interest. Good for them.

The Herald’s tone implied that someone was secretly getting a good deal. But the people really getting the good deal are you, me and the farmers and fishermen of Massachusetts.

The article went on to say that there was no bidding process. That is wrong also. “We always knew there would be an RFP,” said Boston Public Market Association President Donald Wiest, a volunteer who is referring to a “request for proposals,” which starts the bidding process. In 2008 the legislature authorized funds for a public market. The BRA and the Mayor said they wanted the market in the Haymarket building—why it has lain empty for so long is in dispute. In July, Governor Patrick said the state would finally spend the $10 million to get the market going in that location.

Everyone fully expects the Boston Public Market Association will get the nod after the process is through. This isn’t being wired. It’s being sane. Leaders of this group lobbied for the market money from the legislature for no other reason than to do a good deed. The volunteer board is filled with agriculture types with expertise who donate their time. There are no other local groups out there with their kind of experience in running such a market. Consumers will enjoy cheaper prices with a solid non-profit entity running it.

This situation is soooooo Boston. Chips on the shoulders, tribalism, trumped-up “gotchas,” and fake conflicts of interest have deep-sixed many a Boston project.

But it is folly to let another good idea disappear. Because we’ve been pretty bad recently at bringing things about. It’s not just the Filene’s hole in the ground. It’s also the Y facility at the north end of the Greenway, Mass Hort’s winter garden at the south end, and the two museums in between that were supposed to be built over the central artery ramps. It’s the casinos, which won’t save the economy like its proponents claim, but also won’t present the problems its opponents predict.

The supermarket in the Bulfinch Triangle is another project that hasn’t seen the light of day. A downtown public school. The Skate Park on the north side of the Charles, where the money has been raised for construction for several months, but the Department of Conservation and the Charles River Conservancy haven’t finished discussions on how to manage things going forward. The mile-high skyscraper. Where is it now? We can’t even hold a Charles River Swim, which had to be canceled again this year because of the algae in the river. I do understand we’ve had an economic melt-down. But this city prides itself on innovation, brains and high standards. We could do better.

So here’s my recommendation to the Patrick Administration—go for it. Start fixing that building so it will hold a market, get the process going so that an entity—most likely the Boston Public Market—can start putting the purveyors together. And Boston Public Market, since you need to raise $7 million yourselves toward this goal, I’m sending you $500 today to help in a small way. Readers, you should too.