BY JESSICA PARKS
As Brooklynites try to avoid
close contact with each other
during the coronavirus pandemic,
Brighton Beach’s streetside
fruit markets have become
a potentially dangerous nuisance,
according to neighborhood
watchdogs, who report
large crowds and operations
blocking the sidewalk for pedestrians.
“Brighton Beach Avenue
produce merchants are back to
business-as-usual,” said local
civic guru Craig Hammerman.
“They crowd the sidewalk by
extending their goods beyond
their stoop sale permit allowances
then occupy the opposite
side of the sidewalk with produce
for sale.”
Both Hammerman and
Brighton Beach Neighborhood
Association president Pat
Singer, claim the stands are fl agrantly
skirting social distancing
guidelines along the neighborhood’s
main thoroughfare.
“It’s not just the operator at
1055 Brighton Beach Avenue,”
said Hammerman. “There’s
another one across the street
from them, another one a block
away, and several more along
the length of Brighton Beach
Avenue.”
COURIER L 14 IFE, APRIL 24-30, 2020
The fruit stand employees,
who Singer says were slow to
adorn masks and gloves, have
begun taking up so much space
on the sidewalks that it is impossible
to walk without coming
troublingly close to other
pedestrians.
“It’s a petri dish. Now, we
fi nd out this weekend, they had
garbage boxes piled up in front
and narrowed the sidewalk on
Brighton 12th Street,” Singer
said. “So where there should
be a pretty good-sized sidewalk,
there is about 12 inches.”
The 60th Police Precinct has
levied fi nes against the produce
merchants, but that has failed
to stop many of them — such as
the owner of a stand Brighton
Beach Avenue and Brighton
12th Street, who has ignored
sanitary guidelines, according
to Brighton Beach district
leader Ari Kagan.
“I talked to him myself, I
know the 60th Precinct fi ned
him,” Kagan said. “I do not see
him changing behavior too
much. He still doesn’t take it seriously.”
And the failure of Brighton
Beachers to take precautions is
not just theoretical, as the area
is one of the borough’s hot spots
for infections in an area with
more than 1,100 reported cases,
according to city data.
Fruit stands have long been
a source of annoyance that has
narrowed walkways and obstructed
sidewalks, but the outbreak
of novel coronavirus has
turned the inconvenience into
a potential danger, said Hammerman.
“This was an important
issue before the pandemic,”
Hammerman said. “But it’s
just become more so with the
social distancing.”
Hammerman, the former
district manager of Parks
Slope’s Community Board 6,
said the NYPD should not be
expected to effi ciently enforce
stoop sale laws, which are upheld
by the city Department of
People shopping in cramped quarters at a Brighton Beach fruit market.
Laura Singe
Consumer and Worker Protection.
“Right now, we are expecting
police to enforce consumer
affairs rules which they are
just not set up to do,” Hammerman
said. “And consumer
affairs doesn’t have the enforcement
capacity to visit
these places more than twice
a year.”
In an effort to resolve the
issue for the long term, he suggested
the business regulatory
agency clearly demarcate sidewalk
shop’s boundary lines,
and is working to enlist the
support of Community Board
13.
“I think in this instance,
fences make good neighbors,”
Hammerman said.
The NYPD did not comment
on the number of violations
issued but spoke of their
increased efforts to encourage
social distancing from all New
Yorkers.
“We began a new series of
patrols to monitor locations
and educate members of the
public on safe social distancing,”
said an NYPD spokesperson.
“Offi cers are stopping by
restaurants, bars, supermarkets,
salons and public spaces
to remind individuals gathered
of the ban on congregating in
public spaces and to practice
social distancing. We are seeing
virtually complete cooperation
from all New Yorkers,
which is what we’ve always
seen in times of crisis.”
‘It’s a petri dish’
Large crowds at Brighton Beach fruit markets irk locals
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