Officials close in on deal to bring vendors back to Corona Plaza
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City officials are close to a deal that would bring food vendors back to the popular Corona Plaza.Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach
By Ryan Schwach
Officials are close to a deal that would see some unlicensed Corona Plaza street vendors return to the popular hub in the coming weeks.
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards told the Eagle on Wednesday that a group of city agencies were “still working through some finite details,” on the agreement that would see vendors return to Corona Plaza after they were kicked out and had their wares seized by law enforcement in July.
“Vendors are going to return,” Richards said. “That’s been established.”
In July, Department of Sanitation enforcement officers arrived late at night, and told nearly 80 vendors – who did not have the official vendor paperwork, which advocates say is difficult to obtain – to vacate the area. Though the action was supported by some locally, including by Councilmember Francisco Moya, it received quick condemnation from Richards and other local elected officials.
“These are women of color with kids, many who come to this plaza every day to feed their families, to feed the community and to truly be a gem of Queens. So what do you want them to do?” Richards said at a rally in support of the vendors in early August. “Treating the vendors like criminals is disgusting. It's immoral, and is simply anti-American.”
Richards was joined by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Assemblymember Catalina Cruz and others.
In the weeks since, Richards has made getting vendors back to the plaza, which was well known in and out of the city as a cultural hub, a priority.
The borough president, in coordination with the vendors themselves through the non-profit Street Vendors Project and the city, has worked toward a deal that would formalize the Corona Plaza market – something vendors have been after long before the sweep – creating an organized space for vendors to continue to sell their goods.
“We've made progress with the administration, certainly in rethinking and reimagining how we think about vendors, period,” said Richards.
Although the deal is not yet finalized, Richards says the new program would create a more regulated market – but not “hyper on enforcement.” The agreement could see vendors relegated to dedicated spaces, and limit the overall number of vendors allowed in the plaza in an effort to prevent overcrowding but continue to provide the cultural spark Corona Plaza became well known for, the BP said.
“More of a community based solution,” Richards said. “There will be dedicated spaces for the vendors to be, so rather than having it be the wild wild west where you have 1,000 people crowding near you, there will be a particular number, and then there will also be a lot of allotted space for those vendors.”
“Having a steady hand that oversees this process is really going to make it successful at the end of the day,” he added.
Richards says that small details, like having allotted times for vendors, or regulating the size of the tents that can be placed in the plaza, have yet to be agreed upon.
The agreement will likely be temporary and serve as a pilot program, allowing some vendors to return.
“The most important thing is now – it's the time to show intel for us that this can work…and I think that will largely dictate how this looks in the future,” Richards said. “We want to ensure that this specific pilot, if you want to call it, as we launch it, is something manageable.”
Looking even further into the future, Richards thinks that this potential agreement could set a precedent for the rest of the city.
“We're hoping that when this is successful, we will then see the City of New York look to replicate this and other unregulated areas around the state,” he said. “This whole proposal is larger and bigger than just about Corona Plaza at this point – I think Corona Plaza is setting the template for the future.”
Last week, Richards threatened to poke a major hole in another city project – New York City Football Club’s stadium in Willets Point, which just began the city’s review process this week. Richards threatened to block the stadium if a deal was not reached to bring vendors back to Corona Plaza.
Borough President Donovan Richards and other advocates rallied in August alongside vendors after they were kicked out of Corona Plaza. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach
“My position was and will continue to be, how are the local residents benefiting from this stadium? How's the city treating the very community that this stadium is going to be placed?” he said. “At the end of the day, this wasn't about me, this wasn't about politics, this was about largely immigrant women and children who were just trying to feed their families, who were just trying to pay their rent.”
For some of those families, it has been a rough 86 days since the sweep that pushed them out of Corona Plaza.
“It's been very tough economically for people,” said Carina Kaufman-Gutierrez, the deputy director of the Street Vendors Project. “You can imagine what being out of work for 85 days looks like.”
Kaufman-Gutierrez said that some of the vendors have taken out loans, and others have looked for other work, like driving for UPS. In some cases, nonprofits have allowed Corona vendors to cater events to keep up a revenue stream.
“We've seen a lot of solidarity from other community-based groups,” she said.
Kaufman-Gutierrez said there have been productive conversations with the city, and, like Richards, hopes that Corona Plaza could be a blueprint for similar ventures across the city.
“Because Corona has captured the hearts and souls of so many as a story of what it looks like when a community comes together…a market that is run and operated by the people who live and work within walking distance, and I think that is such an important model for the rest of the city of what real true local economic development can look like,” she said.
City Hall would not confirm where the deal currently sits, but a spokesperson for the mayor’s office told the Eagle: “The Adams administration has been working to improve quality of life at Corona Plaza and is working with local community leaders to establish an outdoor vending area on the plaza to better serve the space’s diverse uses and improve the experience for everyone living in, working in, or visiting the area.”
