![]() ![]() The organizing at Corona Plaza was also boosted at the end of 2020 by a $600,000 grant given to the Queens Economic Development Corporation by the Department of Small Business Services to revitalize Roosevelt Avenue from Junction Boulevard to 114th Street. “Everybody tries to help each other,” he said. Luis Antonio Asitimbay Rocano, who used to work as a busboy in a restaurant, now sells soccer jerseys, hats, flags and electronics from a table set up in the plaza. “There was a lot of need for information, so people not only know their rights but also know their responsibilities,” she said ![]() The surge of vendors, many of whom were people who had never sold in the city before, created some initial problems, said Carina Kaufman-Guitierrez, the Street Vendor Project’s deputy director. While the number fluctuates, around 89 steady vendors sell inside the 13,000-square-foot plaza and along adjacent streets, they said. The number of vendors around the plaza more than doubled in the first months of COVID-19, according to officials with the Street Vendor Project, a citywide nonprofit that has been helping the SVA of Corona organize. “We will see the plaza providing the services that were intended when we created it, which was to have a destination for residents of Queens to be able to enjoy.” Selling Like Hotcakes “We want to make sure that Corona Plaza is a place that is used for those who make a living in that area but also for the business community that have their businesses around the area,” DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez told THE CITY. ![]() The DOT said it is currently working on the needs of the plaza, which the agency created out of a former service road in 2012 and became an official pedestrian plaza in 2018 after an approximately $7 million renovation. If I don’t pay Department of Transportation, they’re gonna write me up. “I have $7,000 a month in rent,” she said “I have to pay for a little tent outside. She pointed to double standards in enforcement. “The problem is getting bigger and bigger,” said Marlene Velasco, 60, who runs La Mexicana deli on National Street, right off the plaza. “I love this work because what we’re doing here, and what we’re advocating for, benefits all of the vendors,” she said.īut owners and managers of shops around the plaza contend unlicensed vendors cause more trash to pile up and rats to run rampant. When issues come up, Fructoso said they try to work things out internally - creating a model for other street vendors, she said. Restaurant busboy jobs code#To sell at Corona Plaza, vendors are now encouraged to sign a community agreement, adopted in February, that lays out a code of conduct and other rules. The City Council passed legislation in early 2021 that was supposed to dramatically expand the number of food vendor licenses, but the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is lagging behind schedule in actually offering them, THE CITY reported earlier this month. Members and sponsors make THE CITY possible. ![]()
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