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Call it the locavore’s dilemma, Boston-style. Imagine it’s January. You’re thinking about what’s for dinner, or you’re looking for a diversion that involves food, fun, and the American Way. You have a choice: shopping at an indoor, year-round farmer’s market, a treasured oasis of in-season edibles — cheeses, meats, fish, fresh flowers, jams, and fresh breads and pastries, everything that can be coaxed from land and sea by farmers and food artisans in New England — or going to the supermarket. Well, not so fast. While Boston is steadily gaining ground on such foodie hubs as New York and San Francisco, we still don’t have a permanent, indoor public market. In cities where they exist — San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and others — they become magnets for tourists and locals, supporting family farms and generating millions in revenue. But we almost have one! Last year, Governor Patrick signed a bill authorizing $10 million to build a public market on property near the Big Dig. The problem is he hasn’t signed the check. What’s the story? With visions of local goat cheeses dancing in our heads, we chatted with real estate attorney Donald Wiest, the volunteer president and chairman of the board for the Boston Public Market Association.

Why is a public market important? First of all, public markets make people happy. Think of people shopping for their groceries at a public market versus going to Stop & Shop. You get to meet the people who actually produce your food, queue up with the local chefs. It’s fun for people who like food. Secondly, think of it as a way for the city people who live in and around Boston to support the farmers who live in rural Massachusetts, so they can afford to produce food grown in Massachusetts. The farmers are in the rural parts of the state, but the money is in Boston. It’s a huge untapped market with a real economic impact.

What’s the problem? If the bill was already signed... It’s a tough time for the governor to spend $10 million on something new. But he should. Here’s an argument: the Museum of Fine Arts gets about one million visitors a year; the public market in Philadelphia, Reading Terminal, gets 5.6 million visits a year. It should become one of the top attractions in the city.

Where exactly is it supposed to be? That’s the hard part. In a city like Boston, getting the parcel of land is difficult since almost every building is either spoken for or developed. There are two sites near the Greenway, parcel 7 and parcel 9 — a stone’s throw from each other. I like parcel 7. It’s owned by the Turnpike Authority, a building that houses air intake for the highway, built as part of the Big Dig. Right now, it’s wind whistling through empty offices. If the money gets authorized, it’s a site that could be up and running within a year.

Why are you so invested in the Boston Public Market? I live in the city, and I work in the city. I’m a foodie and I like to cook. And if we had a public market, I’d be there shopping, drinking, socializing, and eating, every week. Before I went into private practice, I worked for five years at the BRA, the Boston Redevelopment Authority, and I understand the ins and outs of getting an urban project approved.

Is there anything readers can do to speed it along? I think it would be a great idea if everyone wrote a letter to the governor letting him know how much public support there is for a public market. Plus, I think if enough high-profile people in the food business got themselves organized, the governor, a foodie himself, would love to preside over a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Not a bad goodwill PR gesture in a tough re-election campaign. Kind of a nice visual, don’t you think?

For more information, visit www.bostonpublicmarket.org.