Vendors in Unity Park on Columbia Road Northwest don’t have appropriate permits and haven’t had the required inspector on site, even though they have served food every week for nearly two years. And while some have made between $12,000 and $15,000 annually, many have not paid requisite sales and income taxes.
The D.C. Office of Latino Affairs has sanctioned those violations. Indeed, OLA instigated the problem, infuriating traditional and longtime businesses.
“What has happened here has pitted Latino against Latino. It’s an overall disgrace,” said Pat Patrick, president of the Adams Morgan Business and Professional Association.
“They come in there at seven in the morning and don’t leave until seven in the evening. The food should have been thrown out at 11 a.m.,” said Tony DePasse, a civic leader who has worked with a few businesses that have been complaining for more than a year about the situation. The District has regulations regarding the handling of food even when it’s served in a festival atmosphere.
Everything started when OLA, receiving complaints about a ragtag band of Latinos illegally selling sandwiches, fruit salad and other items from grocery carts and coolers near Sacred Heart Church on 16th Street Northwest, persuaded the Department of Parks and Recreation to provide a permit to use the public triangular park.
George Escobar, OLA’s deputy director, speaking last week at an advisory neighborhood commission meeting, said the agency then contracted with the International Migrant Development Fund to get the vendors into a so-called incubator/training program that could ultimately lead to the individuals creating legitimate businesses. But no one has graduated from the program and no businesses have been created.
OLA’s experiment has failed miserably. Worse, it has injured businesses, like Churreria Madrid, MexTex, and Old City Cafe, which have contributed to the vibrancy and diversity of Adams Morgan.
Escobar said OLA recently turned management of the project over to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Angela Franco, that group’s director, did not respond to my telephone calls requesting a comment.
“The [business improvement district] will continue to protest the use of the park if the market continues to operate there every weekend,” Kristen Barden, executive director of the Adams Morgan Business Association, said in a letter to OLA Director Mercedes Lemp and DPR Director Jesus Aguirre.
DPR spokesman John A. Stokes said Aguirre knows discussions are taking place to resolve the concerns. “We are making sure we have a better understanding of all the issues before a final decision [about renewal of the agreement] is made.”
The government definitely has some explaining to do: Why, for example, has OLA condoned illegal behavior by the vendors? Why has DPR allowed a private, moneymaking enterprise to exist on public property?
The program at Unity Park should be suspended immediately — at least until the legitimate concerns are resolved and vendors are in full compliance with local laws. Teaching people how to circumvent the rules is no way to get them started in business.
Jonetta Rose Barras’ column appears on Monday and Wednesday. She can be reached at [email protected].
