In a bruising email circulating around Sunset Park and Bay Ridge, the organization Friends of Sunset Park speaks out against last Saturday’s bizarre raid on Sunset Park cart vendors. The vendors exist in the nebulous world of micro-businesses where permits, city inspections, etc. tend come off a bit like bureaucratic overkill… especially if you’re just buying home-made food from someone up the block. FSP (Friends of Sunset Park) has taken a middle road between the “enforcement approach” (which would arrest or throw out the vendors) and a hands-off approach (which leaves little room for safety standards and may not be sustainable in the long term). FSP’s approach is one of working with the vendors to bring them up to snuff with business standards. In terms of sustainability, it has us here at Bayridgistan pretty convinced.
Below is Friends of Sunset Park’s response to last Saturday’s (8/15/09) raid.
Dear FRIENDS-
Please be assured that we, the Friends of Sunset Park, did not participate
in the planning or the execution of today’s RAID on the park’s unlicensed
vendors. This tactic, while it might make some people feel powerful for a
few minutes, does not work, period. In fact, it generates graffiti, other
types of vandalism (against trees/plantings, equipment & facilities), as
well as more garbage aka “garbage with a vengeance.” Members of the
Friends of Sunset Park have been approaching the vendors directly for the
past couple of months to elicit their cooperation as a partner in
preserving and maintaining the park. While this outreach may not carry the
drama of a raid or a call to arms vs. the vendors, we believe that it will
eventually yield better results. For the past several years we have been
advocating for a multi-prong/multi agency approach that includeseducation, small business tech support, and constructive enforcement, but
the response is always the same: ” it’s definitely the right approach, but we don’t have the
resources necessary.”At the end of the day, all that the RAID accomplished was to terrorize the
hundreds of children present, and the vendors’ children, in particular,
who witnessed their parents being chased like animals, as they abandoned
their carts and property to avoid perceived arrest. A number of the
vendors spoke with us today thinking that the RAID was orchestrated by us,
and since that was not the case, we are directing them to Park’s
management and the individuals who did so that they may discuss this issue
directly with them.Friends of Sunset Park was founded 12 years ago and has remained a
constant and effective presence in our park as different park’s personnel
has come and gone, and as many individuals and special interest groups
have also come and gone. We invite anyone who reads this posting and who
is interested in responsible, effective, long-term, hands-on and realistic
involvement in the preservation of Sunset Park to join us and work in a
collaborative and inclusive manner. Our mission is “TO PRESERVE OUR
WONDERFUL COMMUNITY BY BRINGING BEAUTY, EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS, RECREATION
AND ENTERTAINMENT TO A SAFE AND CLEAN PARK…One-shot RAIDS against the vendors, with the goal of scaring them
straight, have never and will never work long term. The “cleansing” effect
may, at best, last a couple of days, but they will re-establish themselves
and always in greater numbers and savvier, because of it; the graffiti and
vandalism that these “enforcement actions” generate will cost all of us
far more in preserving the well-being, frustration, park salaries,
materials, and reduced enjoyment of our treasured park.Yours truly- MR for the Friends of Sunset Park- friendsofsunsetpark@yahoo.com
____________________________________________________Please let us kow what your thoughts are on this issue.
Friends of Sunset Park
FRIENDSOFSUNSETPARK-BROOKLYN.BLOGSPOT.COM 718.437.1413
UPDATE: According to sources, this raid was ordered on the discretion of a single Parks employee in an attempt to lessen the amount of garbage in the park (i.e. make less work for Parks employee)
