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'A beacon of hope': 3 years after COVID-19 devastated Queens, Corona Plaza becomes bustling market
By
Catalina Gonella
Published Mar 22, 2023
Modified Mar 22, 2023
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José Alvarado Jr.
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By
Catalina Gonella
Published Mar 22, 2023
Modified Mar 22, 2023
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Three years after Corona and its surrounding neighborhoods in Queens became the early epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York, the area once hit hardest by the virus has slowly transformed into a bustling market full of street vendors.
On any given day, Corona Plaza is lined with vendors selling food, clothes and other things mostly from Central and South America. The smell of grilled meat wafts through the air, each stand with its own soundtrack below the roaring 7 train tracks. But it didn’t always look this way. Before the pandemic, only a few vendors shared the space.
The Corona/North Corona region recorded an above-average COVID-19 death rate of 618.83 per 100,000 people according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (The citywide death rate was 539.83 per 100,000 people as of Tuesday.)
Street vending to get by
As the crisis dragged on into 2021 and beyond, and people lost their jobs and loved ones, some in the predominantly immigrant community turned to vending to get by. Right off a 7 train stop, Corona Plaza was a natural place to set up shop.
“That's why I began working on this,” said Rosario Troncoso, who worked as a housekeeper before the pandemic made her job nearly impossible to execute safely. Now, she sells embroidered bags, hats and other items from Mexico with her daughter via Mochilas y Variedades Aline at the plaza. “And from there, well, I liked it more than anything because I’m in charge of my own schedule, my own everything,” she said in Spanish.
Rosario Troncoso began selling embroidered bags and hats from Mexico in Corona Plaza after losing her housekeeping job due to the pandemic.
José Alvarado Jr.
Three years since the pandemic began, the colorful stand continues to help her and her husband, who works in construction, make ends meet. And she’s not alone. Though the daily number fluctuates, around 90 vendors now share the area in and around the plaza, according to the Street Vendor Project — though only a fraction of those have the necessary documentation to operate legally.
With a waitlist of more than 12,000 that has been closed for over a decade, according to a Community Service Society of New York report from earlier this year, general vendor licenses have become practically impossible to obtain. Without them, vendors are left vulnerable to fines, confiscation or even arrest.
Getting organized
Instead, vendors at Corona Plaza are organizing. In early 2021, they began meeting and eventually formed the Asociación de Vendedores Ambulantes de Corona Plaza — a local vendor association. The group has since worked with local elected officials, nonprofits and city agencies in order to continue vending.
“It's a lot of work, but it has to be done,” said Troncoso, who serves as the president of the plaza’s vendor association. “It is very important because I don’t just fight for myself. I want to fight for everyone. I want all of us to end up working as we are now, but now following the rules that we have to follow, so that they don't come and want to kick us out and take away our work areas.”
Mayra Condo first parked her taco cart in Corona Plaza six years ago.
José Alvarado Jr.
As one of the pre-pandemic businesses at the plaza, Mayra Condo, who runs the Tacos al Gusto food cart, said she’s seen the space transform over the last three years. Condo’s business is one of the few operating with a permit that she rents from its owner while she waits for a chance to get her own. She attributed the formation of the association with helping the vendors feel safe working their businesses there despite their permit status.
“As you can see now, every corner that you turn, you see a new vendor, which is great because it attracts tourists, it attracts people on social media [who] take videos, so it's good business for everybody,” said Condo, whose food cart has been parked at the plaza for six years. “I see a lot of union, a lot of organization. The vendors don't feel as fearful as before. We have some sense of calmness as when we come to sell, not necessarily that we have to be on the lookout.”
With help from the Street Vendor Project – a citywide nonprofit that was working with the vendors of Corona Plaza since before the pandemic – and Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A, the vendors created bylaws that established rules and regulations at the plaza. They also drew out a map of their placements in the plaza, divided it into different sections and elected leaders for them, drew up a community agreement, organized community clean ups and ran training for vendors.
Corona Plaza as seen from the 7 train platform above in Queens.
José Alvarado Jr.
“The fact that there is an organized community here has actually created the opportunity for, vendors, as valuable community stakeholders, to have very productive dialogues with city agencies and elected officials who see Corona Plaza as a model for how street vend and public space management can exist across the city,” said Carina Kaufman-Gutierrez, deputy director of the Street Vendor Project.
Key political support
One of those elected officials is Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, who early last year created a task force in order to deal with crowding at the plaza as more vendors set up shop, and help improve conditions that cause some to consider street vending a safety hazard.
“There were certain elected officials, for instance, who want to shut down the entire plaza. And our position was like, give us the issues and let's work through them,” Richards said. “One of the things I did not want to see coming in is this heavy enforcement by the police department because… these are people trying to make a living, right? Majority women, women with children, immigrants.”
Groups – including the Queens Economic Development Corporation, NYC Department of Transportation and the NYPD’s 110th Precinct – met periodically to discuss challenges and come up with solutions. With help from a Department of Small Business Services grant, they provided business counseling to the vendors and organized programming at the plaza. The Department of Transportation, which manages the plaza, also worked to improve cleanliness standards through its Public Space Equity Program.
Patricio Campo Verde (left) stands for a portrait outside of his food truck, Pinchoclo, as Maria Calle (right) prepares various meats on the corner of Roosevelt Street and 104th Street.
José Alvarado Jr.
Cutting through the red tape
Across the plaza, Patricio Campo Verde said he remembers what it was like to be on the lookout while grilling his tripa mishqui, a typical Ecuadorian dish of either pork or lamb intestine. He’s been selling food at the plaza with his wife at Pinchoclo for almost 14 years, and has been on the waitlist for a permit for nine.
“Things have improved a lot for me, because really before, it was tickets from the police, tickets from sanitation, tickets from parks, all of that. But since the pandemic, it’s slowed down. I feel very good because they have let us work and comply with our economic duties that we have — to pay rents, insurances, and all that related to living well,” Campo Verde said. “We are looking to no longer be criminalized, but to be legal.”
The responsibility of enforcing vendor rules and regulations has shifted from city agency to city agency. Once officially handled by the NYPD, the power was handed to the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection in 2021, though the NYPD kept issuing tickets anyway. Then last week, the city announced that the sanitation department would take over starting on April 1, a move that immediately drew skepticism from advocates.
José Herrnandez orders $5 tacos at Tacos Al Gusto.
José Alvarado Jr.
“Putting our immigrant, military veteran and primarily low-income New Yorker-run business under the purview of the Department of Sanitation is essentially saying ‘These businesses are trash,’ rather than saying ‘Look at this incredible economic vitality of our smallest businesses, who keep our streets vibrant, who need real reforms to be able to do their business with dignity and protection.’ That’s what’s needed in the city,” Kaufman-Gutierrez said.
On Thursday, one day before the announcement was made, street vendors took a break from work at Corona Plaza and across the city to rally at City Hall, asking the city for reforms in the industry regulations.
A model for the future of vending
For now, advocates and supportive elected officials hope Corona Plaza can serve as a pilot for how the city can move forward on those reforms.
“This can be the model of how we organize, right? We need to organize until we see an increase in licensing,” Donovan, the Queens borough president, said. “That plaza is a beacon of hope. It's a beacon of light. It's a place where people come together.”
Maria Calle (left) tends to customers at Pinchoclo on the corner of Roosevelt Street and 104th Street.
José Alvarado Jr.
Corona Plaza attracts visitors from across the city. But it’s also a staple for locals looking for a taste from home. José Herrnandez came to New York City from Mexico 18 years ago, settling down in Flushing, Queens. Around once a week, he makes his way to Corona Plaza.
“Because this is like, pretending that you’re in Mexico, it’s the same. The stalls, the tacos, the clothes, the food — it reminds you of Mexico… When you come here, you feel as if you were in your own town. You go out to eat some tacos, you go out with your family, you find bread, you find tamales, you find a bit of everything.” he told Gothamist in Spanish after ordering the five-for-$5 tacos deal at Tacos al Gusto. “Three years ago, this wasn’t here. Now there are already many stalls that, well, you can come and enjoy here to eat and find everything you want.”
Tagged
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public safety
economy
Catalina Gonella
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