Part II: The Stakeholders of Unity Park Vendors Market

The second meeting of the so-called stakeholders in the Unity Park Vendor's Market happened on the 20th of September, called to order by Kristen Barden, ExecDirec of the BID.

This is what the meeting room looked like a couple of minutes before the meeting began. It was schmoozing at its best. Jonetta Rose Barras sat back taking in Jose Sueiro's wizened perspective on the market issue. The young man next to Jonetta is Jose's assistant in Jose's race to be an ANC commissioner. The angry white man yelling at the camera is Pap Patrick, a neighborhood busybody who often turns rascaliwag when he doesn't get his way. None of these people live near Unity Park, nor are elected officials, nor have a business near the park, so their stakeholder status in this issue is from the beginning suspect.

Kristen Barden opened the meeting by demanding answers from OLA and Angela Franco of the Greater Washington Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.      The nonstake holders then chimed in in an accusatory and impatient (rude?) manner.  It quickly degenerated into something else.  Jonetta Rose Barras, a so-called reporter/journalist, became a strong advocate for shutting down the vendor's market immediately, aping the demands of the BID proxies.  

The whole process of the stakeholder meetings initiated by the BID to deal with issues presented by the vendors in Unity Park broke down at the September meeting, the 2nd meeting of this process.  Pat Patrick and his supporters, Al Jirikowic and Tony Depass, began yelling at the ANC commissioner whose district covers Unity Park.  They asked her to turn off her camera, but this being a public meeting, to wit, the journalists in the room, they did not have the option not be recorded.  The three of them lost their tempers against the commissioner, which basically ended the meeting.  Those in attendance had to ask what the purpose of coming to these meetings was in the first place, if the BID was just making demands and not negotiating in good faith.   There have been no more Unity Park Stakeholder Meetings since this one on September 20th.

When the meeting ended, Jonetta Barras approached George Escobar of the Office of Latino Affairs and told him that it was nothing against him personally, but she planned to do all she could do to end the alleged travesty of justice that Unity Park represents to its detractors.  She also  rudely yelled at the ANC commissioner.  The BID proxies left grumbling under their breath something about taking over the ANC.