Latino vendors in Durham voice concerns about where they can work, how they’re treated
Latino immigrant street vendors in Durham spoke out Friday against what they said is discrimination and a lack of compassion from the planning department.
The protest, held in the downtown square by the city’s iconic bull statue, was prompted by vendors after they were told by code enforcement officials that they couldn’t operate food trucks and cars out of a parking lot near a major Latino commercial hub.
The incident has created tensions between a sector of the city’s large Latino population and local planning officials, vendors told The News & Observer.
“We’re fighting to not be a public charge against the city, the state and to be able to contribute our grain of sand to society with our work,” said Rafael Flores, a vendor of cosmetics and a Mexican immigrant.
On the morning of July 18, two Durham City-County Planning Department officials came to the parking lot across from a Compare Foods on Avondale Drive, a popular area for Latino residents north of downtown, and told them they didn’t have proper permits to be on the site.
Vendors say the officials, code enforcement officer Edwin Carrero and planning manager Landus Robertson, told them they needed to leave the premises or would face $500 fines or action by police.
Vendors cleared the area that morning, and most didn’t return to open their businesses until Friday, leaving them feeling bitter about lost business. Vendors said it was the first time they had been asked to leave after years of commercial activity on the site.
“I’d been working out here for a couple of months and then [planning officials] showed up to kick me out,” said Luis Cano, a taco truck owner, in Spanish.
He joined a crowd of about 50 people Friday, holding signs that included among them “COVID is killing us and the city is threatening us” written in Spanish.
In a statement, the Durham City-County Planning Director Sarah Moreno Young said while city staff “followed departmental procedures in their interactions with the vendors on Saturday, July 18, we know that the situation could have been handled differently, and are working to modify some of our protocols.”
“We are empathetic to the community, and especially to the plight of the Latinx community, which has suffered higher infection of COVID-19,” said Moreno Young. “In the last few months, as the virus impacted the local economy, we decided to approach zoning enforcement as an educational opportunity, rather than to issue notices of violation. We will continue to work on ways to be sensitive to community needs in our enforcement efforts.”
Seeking solutions
Like other vendors, Cano has turned to this parking lot for sales during the pandemic. The coronavirus has made it difficult to find business at areas that used to draw crowds of people.
“I’ve ran this business for years but now with the pandemic… I used to work at the soccer fields, but I had to leave and go find somewhere else to work,” Cano said. “And well, I know everyone over here and they told me to come over. … I’ve been here since.”
Earlier this month, a worker with the health department inspected some of the food businesses there over sanitation concerns related to COVID-19, Cano and other vendors said, which added to their tensions with the city and county.
Durham councilwoman Javiera Caballero told The News & Observer that the council is aware of the issue. Caballero said she was approached in late June by vendors who expressed concerns about being able to safely operate their businesses on the lot without getting into trouble.
Caballero said the council will seek solutions with the planning department to aid the street vendors.
The vendors are trying to feed their families in the pandemic and “are eager to do the right thing and do [business] the right way,” she said.
Moreno Young said in her statement that she had met with Latina community leader Alexandra Valladares, who was recently elected as an at-large Durham school board member. Valladares had contacted the planning department to discuss solutions to the issue.
Valladares said the Avondale Drive parking lot has long been a key center for the Latino community as an “iconic plaza latina.”
“This is a place that has our footprint as Latinos,” said Valladares in an interview. “You don’t threaten to call the police on a community that is number one with [immigration] raids and dealing with law enforcement.”
Valladares said she will join vendors Tuesday to meet with members of city and county staff to address the situation, and business on the site will be allowed until then.
Doris Calix, a Honduran immigrant who sells cheeses and spices, had come to parking lot after needing to take her business out of the nearby Compare Foods grocery store, she said.
She said she lost out on business after being told to leave.
“With the situation that we’re living right now, as you can imagine, it’s already very hard with the pandemic,” Calix said.
Saturday, Robert Perry, a Durham business owner, came to the Avondale Drive parking lot to take photos of vendors to report them to the city, according to a Facebook Live video Valladares recorded of the interaction.
Perry, the owner of the Durham Green Flea Market on 1600 Pettigrew St., told Valladares on the video that he comes by “about once a week” to take photos of vendors.
“We’re aware that you’re filing complaints against these vendors,” says Valladares in the video.
“Yes, that’s correct,” he replied. “Because I’ve invested a lot of money in my flea market and y’all haven’t invested anything in this.”
This story was originally published July 25, 2020 at 12:54 PM with the headline "Latino vendors in Durham voice concerns about where they can work, how they’re treated."
