No sooner had the vendors market opened at the end of August 2008, when Pat Patrick, a neighborhood resident, began to complain. "They've taken over our park." "How did this happen without the businesses input?" Mr. Patrick is known in the community for his assertive and niggling manner, always carping about something someone else is doing. As he stood across the street from Unity Park the Sunday night of its debut weekend, Mr. Patrick made a pronouncement, "There is going to be trouble here on Adams Morgan Day," he stated, hands on hips. "Adams Morgan Day always uses the park, and now they've taken it away from us." Mr. Patrick is a real estate broker and member of the Adams Morgan Business Improvement District (BID). For almost two years, he continued his complaints about the vendors market to anyone who would listen, and to many who did not want to listen.
By the summer of 2010, Patrick succeeded in stirring up some business owners to say they have been losing business due to the vendors market, and the BID took the vendors market on as an issue. The BID, through its director Kristen Barden, began discussion with members of the Adams Morgan ANC about the vendors market and use of Unity Park. It was clear the BID was trying to remove the vendors from selling in Unity Park and were unwilling to compromise. In July, the BID sent a letter* to the Office of Latino Affairs and the Department of Parks and Recreation protesting a new Memorandum of Understanding regarding use of the park.
In July 2010, BID director Barden attended the ANC's Public Services Committee meeting to continue the discussions regarding the use of the park. At the time her arguments were the same specious claims of Mr. Patrick. Yes, it was true that some of the businesses had lost business from the time the market opened, but the economy has been bad, and there was no actual stats and proof of this. She also claimed some businesses had complained, when it turned out that they had never complained. To wit: Old City Jerusalem owner Walid responded to the question if he'd ever complained about the vendors market, "Absolutely not. Why should I? They are not a restaurant." To this day, Ms. Barden still says Old City owner complains about the vendors market.
In August, the BID called a "stakeholders meeting" for people who had a stake in the Unity Park vendors market. This is who came:
Chairing the meeting was Kristen Barden (far right), next to her Pat Patrick, next to him Tony Harvey, writer for the Intowner Newspaper.
When she opened the meeting, Ms. Barden admonished, "I know there are some strong opinions about the market. Please do not let this escalate. That will not be productive if that happens. Let's have a civil discussion. There are some strong emotions about this."
The meeting opened with a quick overview of how the market started and what need it was serving, given by George Escobar and Mercedes Lemp from the Office of Latino Affairs. The management of the market was just switched to the Greater Washington Chamber of Commerce, but they are using the same market manager who was there under the previous regime.
Ms. Barden then opened it to everyone for discussion. Driving the agenda and opening the discussion
with a lot of hyperbole was Pat Patrick, "I'm stunned . . . " "Who in God's name is this for . . ." "What about health issues? I'm stunned someone has not been attacked by ecoli." He spoke for ten minutes of what was supposed to be an hour meeting.
L to R: Juan, owner of Pollo Granjero; Ernesto, owner of Churreria Madrid; George Escobar, assistant director of Office of Latino Affairs; Mercedes Lemp, Director of OLA; Wilson Reynolds, Chairman of ANC 1C; and Tony Harvey, reporter for the Intowner.
The business owners then got to speak. They told of how hard it is to keep up with their costs these days, and lunch is especially bad on the days the market is open. One complained about the parking issue.
Angela Franco, Director of the Greater Washington Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, was there because the GWHCC will be the interim organization managing the market.
L to R: Tony DePass, a community resident; representative from the Department of Health; Alfonso, an independent Hispanic journalist; and Wilson Reynolds, chairman of ANC1C.
Mr. DePass said he was there to have his friend Pat Patrick's back, "And besides", he added, "I wrote the vending rules for Marion Barry." The Department of Health representative was there because he was invited by Pat Patrick. Alfonso was there "to defend the market." Wilson Reynolds was there to help represent the ANC. The author was there also represent the ANC.
The meeting was riddled with interruptions** by Messrs. DePass and Patrick, so much that it got out of hand occasionally. Trash and parking were discussed and plans of action were agreed on to ameliorate these problems. At the end of the meeting, Ms. Barden raised the possibility of moving the market to other locations outside of Adams Morgan for 3/4ths of the weekends/month. The business owners did not think that would help their businesses. The OLA representatives didn't think that was possible. ANC reps did not like that possibility. The only ones pushing for it were Ms. Barden and Mr. Patrick. Mr. DePass was yelling, "Move it to Walter Pierce Park." A second "Stakeholders Meeting" was scheduled for the following month.
Following this meeting, ANC 1C met on September 1st to discuss and pass a resolution in support of the vendors market in Unity Park. That'll be part III.
*
BID Letter to DPR and OLA:
√Dear Ms. Lemp and Mr. Aguirre,
We are writing today to protest the renewal of the MOU for use of
Unity Park (at Columbia/Euclid/Champlain Streets) in Adams Morgan
for the Latino Entrepreneurship Program weekend market in the park.
This weekend market has become a growing concern for the "brick and
mortar" businesses in Adams Morgan that we represent. They are
concerned about the direct competition these vendors cause as well as
the food handling and preparation sanitation.
The brick and mortar businesses each pay the BID taxes, property
taxes, rent, utilities, etc ... none of which the market vendors pay. If you
are a cupcake bakery and someone selling cupcakes from a truck sets
up on the sidewalk in front of your store, you stop selling cupcakes.
That is what has happened in Adams Morgan on the weekends. Adding
to this is the slump in the economy, further compounding a difficult
environment for our businesses.
Now, the biggest issue is that the vendors are in the park every
weekend. We have suggested, to the various stakeholders, that this
should be a "movable feast" for a number of reasons. Our proposal was
that there be 4 locations for the market and each weekend it is in a
different location in the city. The first weekend of every month it is in
Adams Morgan, second weekend in Columbia Heights, third down by
the waterfront, etc ... This would enable the vendors to have a broader
reach and establish clientele all over the city such that that brings them
closer to being able to establish a "brick and mortar" business and drawpeople from all over the city who know and like their food. Also being at the same location once
a month people in a specific neighborhood would come to rely on when they could visit them
and look forward to it. With this arrangement, the 'movable feast', the vendors do not place
undue burden on a single neighborhood each weekend.
The brick and mortar businesses in Adams Morgan are really upset that these vendors have been
allowed to be in Unity Park every weekend for the last couple of years. The Adams Morgan
Partnership BID will continue to protest the use of the park if the market continues to operate
there every weekend.
We have additional suggestions that we believe must be included in the FY 2011 RFP for
continued market operations. 1) Vendors or entrepreneurs MUST be DC residents. Most of the
vehicles used to unload items each weekend have Maryland and Virginia license plates on them.
This sends the message that the vendors are NOT DC residents and that DC government money
is being used to support VA and MD residents. There needs to be a strict mechanism installed to
ensure that all vendors are DC residents and paying DC income taxes and sales taxes. 2) The
market organizers need to pay to have a food inspector on site every weekend. As with any open
air food market or annual festival throughout the city, the organizers pay to have a food inspector
onsite. The weekend market should not be treated differently. 3) The locations for the movable
feast should not be in front of existing food businesses. It creates an unfair market advantage.
The DC vending regulations say that vendors can't park their trucks within 60 feet of a restaurant
selling similar food. The law should be applied equally here.
Thank you for your serious consideration of our concerns. We hope this can be worked out
amicably and that these safeguards can be installed.
~}~
Kristen Barden
Executive Director
cc: Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham
Lee Smith, Director of DSLBD
Linda Argo, Director, DCRA
Wilson Reynolds, ANC 1C
** emotional interruptions by Patrick:
. . . amazed to hear you use the word 'inclusion'. You haven't gone around to the businesses.
. . . as President of the Business Association . . .
. . . Nitza lied to the community. These people who run Unity Park ought to be ashamed . . .
. . . I want to see a verification of where this money went to.
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