Pike Place Market and West Seattle Farmers Market in Seattle. The Pearl District in Portland. The West L.A. Farmers Market. All are year-round markets bringing local products to residents and tourists. Should Salt Lake City have its own such market?

The City Council thinks so. Acting as the city's Redevelopment Agency Board, council members voted unanimously to move ahead with a plan for a year-round public market adjacent to what they envision as a "festival" street of shops, restaurants and housing from 200 South to 400 South between 500 West and 600 West.

We like the idea, too, in concept, but there are questions that must be answered before we climb on board. First is whether the city can and should make the financial investment necessary to attract private developers.

Councilman Soren Simonsen points to a public market in Milwaukee that is located near that city's transit station and has brought new life to its neighborhood. Salt Lake City officials hope for the same kind of transformation. The city would provide a subsidy to encourage private developers in hopes of revitalizing the area around the city's transit hub, where TRAX and FrontRunner trains originate and bus routes begin and end.

Renovating this rundown neighborhood would require a hefty chunk of money for demolition, land acquisitions, parking, widening of sidewalks and opening two mini-streets. The city plans to obtain financing from targeted property-tax assessments, a parking revenue bond, a special improvement district and payments from two taxpayer-funded entities, the Utah Transit Authority and the Salt Lake RDA. It's true that if left completely to private developers, it might never happen, but maybe that means it's also too risky for taxpayers.

The UTA would have to agree to let the market sprout in its vacant railroad building on 600 West just north of the hub. UTA officials want to make money by turning their property into retail and office space and possibly residential units. They have justifiable reservations about whether the market would make the redevelopment economically feasible.

To jump-start the project, Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker suggests moving some vendors from the popular Pioneer Park Saturday market to the city-owned warehouse on 300 South and 500 West that would be part of the "Depot District." If customers follow, more tenants might, too.

But, first, let's see a detailed plan that shows more than optimistic hopes of luring private developers. In these times, taxpayers deserve to know the city is investing wisely.