D.C. Councilman Jim Graham has stepped into a feud between brick-and-mortar restaurants in Adams Morgan and a group of vendors who sell lower-cost food in an area park. The Adams Morgan Partnership, which represents local businesses, has been trying for months to get the Fenty administration to create tighter guidelines on the vendors who sell food and clothing in Unity Park every Friday through Sunday.
The partnership says the vendors represent unfair competition because they don’t have to pay rent and other costs that come from running a restaurant or store that sits inside a building. The Greater Washington Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, which recently stepped in to represent the vendors, says it’s willing to work with the brick-and-mortar restaurants — but contends that the vendors have an equal right to sell their goods in the area.
Graham, who represents the area, stepped into the fray earlier this month after the two groups deadlocked.
Graham told The Washington Examiner that he’s now held “a few” meetings with each side and the mayor’s Latino Affairs Office, which first helped set up the vendors in the park near the corner of 18th Street and Columbia Road two years ago.
“I wouldn’t say I have a personal agenda,” Graham said. “I represent the business interests who pay rent, and I am concerned that the vendors are given a chance.”
About two months ago, the 12 vendors became part of a business incubation program funded by the city, but run through the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, said chamber President and Chief Executive Officer Angela Franco.
Up until then, many didn’t have the licenses they needed to operate, Franco said. Now, all of them do. The chamber, she said, is also in the process of creating a training plan so the vendors can establish themselves as formal small businesses.
The business partnership wants to see more changes, including a reduction in the number of days the vendors operate and more competitive prices, said Executive Director Kristen Barden.
“I’m hopeful we can come to arrangement on those things,” Barden said.
Franco said they’re working to get to a “point where everybody feels comfortable.” The chamber is willing to help the brick-and-mortars with marketing and cut vendors’ operation hours.
Graham is hopeful, too.
“We’re making progress,” he said.
