Reprieve Granted!
With only a month and a half left before the traditional start of the Red Hook Soccer Fields season, it was a huge relief to learn this afternoon that the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation has allowed the decades-old institution to continue . . . not for one year, but for six!
It's something of an affirmation, not only of the fact that the pendulum of change sometimes does correct itself if it swings too far in one direction, but also of the one that New York City agencies aren't, in fact, systematically trying to sweep away every aspect of this city that makes it interesting and unique. At least, not in the outer boroughs. (See also: the rezoning of Coney Island to preserve Astroland.)
Still, while the Red Hook vendors have managed to keep their venue, they may now face a much larger task: complying with the painfully arbitrary laws of the city Department of Health (DOH). Soon after the Parks Department announced last June that the vendor licenses would be opened up to bidding, a great deal of public attention focused on the Soccer Fields. Within days of the announcement, U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, the "Senator from Brooklyn," held a press conference there calling on the Parks Department to preserve this institution. While Schumer's involvement, the subsequent media attention, and the increase in visitors to the park surely helped the vendors win their new license, it also brought them to the attention of the DOH.
That's the bad news. The Department of Health may mean well, but as with most vaguely ineffectual state agencies, the organization creates and enforces rules designed to assure itself — and others — that it is doing its job well. Last year, the DOH was embarrassed by a news report on rats more-or-less running a Taco Bell that had recently passed inspection.
Soon afterward, the Department of Health began proactively shutting down "health hazards" of all types, including NYC institutions both real (Di Fara) and imaginary (read: touristic, such as Magnolia Bakery). With the DOH zealously protecting the health of New Yorkers through odd mandates — such as forcing food preparers to wash their hands before putting on rubber gloves (regardless of how dirty those gloves might subsequently get) — the Red Hook vendors have had to adjust their procedures considerably to match the DOH's restaurant-level standards, which somehow fail to apply to other vendors, such as hot dog and halal meat hawkers.
While I don't envy the Red Hook vendors the months of compliance fun they still have ahead with the DOH, the Parks Department's decision is important: it means that public attention can make a difference in how city agencies handle the Soccer Fields. And more importantly, it gives us something else in the face of this latest problem, which is difficult but surmountable: hope — that the Red Hook Soccer Fields will continue, not just for six years, but for many more.
