NEW YORK (AP) -- The Latin food vendors are back.
Six vendors, after months of trying to meet health department regulations and coming up with thousands of dollars to buy food trucks and equipment, have returned the Red Hook Park in Brooklyn. Four more vendors are expected to join them this week if they pass inspection, an advocate for them said.
Before city officials shut them down, more than a dozen vendors had set up every weekend at the park during the warm months.
The vendors' return Saturday was met with mixed reaction. Some, including elected officials and parks officials, cast their return as a victory. Others, particularly people who have been patronizing the vendors for years, said the city's intervention had ``ripped the soul'' out of the fiesta-like tradition.
``It's completely changed and not for the better,'' said Jon Goch, a nearby resident who said he had been buying food from the vendors for four years before the city cracked down. ``It used to be very organic, more open, more social. Now it's just another city-controlled event. There was an awesome thing going on, and they came in and ripped the soul out of it.''
The vendors started gathering at the park about 30 years ago under tents behind tables that stood along the park's inside perimeter, the vendors' advocate said.
Goch said he had heard it evolved from families who cooked food for the soccer teams that play in Red Hook Park and in a field across the street. The cooks, the players, their families, other spectators and the hungry blended seamlessly, Goch said.
Then, last year, city officials toughened enforcement of regulations. In response, a blog savesoccertacos.blogspot.com, was created.
Cesar Fuentes, executive director of the Food Vendors Committee of Red Hook, also known as the Red Hook Food Vendors, said it cost each vendor an average of $30,000 to $40,000 to buy trucks and other equipment and meet city regulations.
He said some received loans from nonprofit micro-lenders while at least three weren't able to come up with the money and overcome regulatory hurdles. Still, Fuentes characterized the vendors' return as a ``victory not just for the vendors but for the patrons, our friends, our supporters.''
``The soul was never lost because the soul was the Red Hook vendors themselves,'' Fuentes said. ``This is an artform.''
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., Department of Parks and Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe, Borough President Marty Markowitz and others held a press conference at the park on Sunday.
Benepe said ``we've done everything we can do to help the vendors,'' who ``worked really hard to meet'' regulations. Schumer said, ``It's not easy for the vendors. They're not going to get rich, but they're here.''
Dozens of people stood in line in sweltering heat for Mexican, Salvadoran, Guatemalan, Chilean, Colombian and Dominican fare served from trucks parked on the street.
Geb Zurburg, of Lodi, N.J., waited nearly 30 minutes to buy two huaraches, large tortillas containing spicy pork or chicken, lettuce, tomato, sour cream, cheese and spicy sauce. He and his wife learned about the vendors on the Travel Channel.
``I've already had all the other food,'' Zurburg said as he held a huarache in each hand. ``It's incredible. This is probably going to be the climax.''
He said of the vendors' comeback: ``I think it's great.''
1010 WINS boroughs & 'Burbs: Brooklyn
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