DOH Deadline Looms for Red Hook Ballfields

Like the rest of the city yesterday, Brooklyn was recovering from an angry summer squall that shut down the subways and even had its own tornado.

While all this was going on Gothamist learned from Porkchop Express that the fate of a Brooklyn institution hung in the balance. Namely, the pan-Latin paradise known as the Red Hook Ballfields.

Yesterday Cesar Fuentes, the Executive Director of the Food Vendors Committee of Red Hook Park, met with officials from the Department of Health and the Parks Department. The DOH has given the vendors an August 19 deadline to remedy its concerns. These include storing more ice, providing portable hand washers/sanitation units, using sterile gloves and renting commercial kitchens for food prep. As if that wasn't enough to do in 10 days, Porkchop reports that the DOH wants everyone who works at a stall to be licensed.

We sincerely hope that the ballfields, which offer everything from Mexican barbacoa tacos to El Salvadoran pupusas, don't get shut down. To be sure, we would miss the opportunity to take a whirlwind culinary tour of South America. But what's really disturbs us is the effect such a move would have upon our city's vibrant ethnic street food scene. If the Red Hook Ballfields close due to DOH scrutiny can the demise of the Vendys be far behind?

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By Joe DiStefano on August 9, 2007 2:50 PM

Comments [rss]

guest

That does it, I'm moving to Williamsburg.

guest

Singapore has some of the best street food in the world and they're very closely regulated for hygiene. Having safe food is not a bad thing, nor does it signal the end of vibrant street food culture.

That said, I hope the DOH takes a stance of working with the ballfield vendors to improve the situation for everyone instead of adopting an antagonistic stance. Shutting down the vendors would be a definite loss to the city.

vermilion

The DOH doesn't give a crap about enjoying cuisine or promoting local culture - that's (unfortunately) not their job!

Making sure that food vendors sell uncontaminated food is, at its root, a GOOD thing. No one wants to get poisoned by a mishandled shrimp. However, in practice the regulations are blind to the reality of certain situations.

Sterile gloves are one of the DOH's most ass-backwards regulations. Studies have shown that food service workers who wear sterile gloves are far LESS likely to pay attention to the cleanliness of their hands - since not only do they not change gloves when changing tasks (like switching from food handling to taking your grungy money), but the gloves also make people far less likely to wash or wipe their hands over a long period of time (whereas if you get sticky food on your bare hands you're likely to wash them). It would be far better promote hand-washing, and - in the case of a venue like the Ballfields - to HELP vendors by providing better facilities for that sort of thing.

I love the Red Hook fields, and I can only hope that our health department will treat the situation with understanding, instead of dogmatic legalistic bullying (unlikely as this drastic attitude shift would be).

guest

Yes I hear young men are doing horrible things in the Port Authority bathrooms so they can afford those ridiculously expensive sterile gloves...

guest

I dunno. I'm a big fan of the ballfield vendors, but there could definitely be some hygienic improvements. More ice and the ability to wash hands is not such a bad idea.

SP

I hate the DOH. Most of their rules are completely useless and just ball busting. Now they are in retribution mode.

guest

Why doesn't the DOH just shut up and enjoy the cuisine. If it wasn't for that KFC in the Village debacle they would have stayed in their cubicles, as they have for years, waiting for their retirement and ordered out from their local Taco Bell.

Do they realize how expensive sterile gloves are? Do they want to put these people out of work and on the welfare roles?

guest

Mexico is North America, and El Salvador is Central America.

There may be some South American cuisine at the ball field, I have never been there, but my money says it's mostly Mexican and Central American food...