City Says Fruit Stand Is Legal
By Mary Frost
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — “Satisfaction is first; making the people happy is first,” says Fatih Deirbas, owner of Brooklyn Heights’ first sidewalk fruit stand in recent memory, “Lovely Fruit.”
The large stand with its yellow umbrellas opened amidst some controversy in front of the St. George Hotel almost a month ago.
The stand operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, says Deirbas, who works with two employees, a day man and a night man. “We get the produce at the Hunts Point Market — fresh stuff every day at 5 a.m.,” he said. “We offer a money-back guarantee.” Deirbas was proud to point out his low prices: sweet cherries for $3.99 a pound, raspberries for $2.50 a box, seedless grapes for $1.99 a pound.
Deirbas, who operates two other fruit stands in Manhattan, says he discovered Brooklyn Heights when his car broke down on Henry Street. “A tall guy came to help me. He told me he lived here 50 years. I told him I’m in the fruit business, and he said, ‘Come here — it’s the best location in New York City.’”
“I have a lot of customers,” he said. “They say, ‘I’m glad to see you, we need the fruit stand.’ Nobody cares about the price, they care about the quality.”
When the stand first opened, the city received a number of complaints from residents who thought it was illegal.
“There has been a mistaken impression that all of Brooklyn Heights is off-limits to street vendors,” Irene Janner, office manager of the Brooklyn Heights Association, told the Brooklyn Eagle Monday. But “only Montague Street is off-limits,” she said. “A lot of residents don’t like it [the fruit stand], and there are issues with his van parked at the meters all day. When does the street get swept?”
On the other hand, Janner said, “some people like it.”
“Somebody complained, the police came here three times,” said Deirbas. He says someone from the city told him, “If somebody bothers you I’ll give you some papers. So thank God. We have a permit from the city — everything is legal.”
Sarah Schlesinger is a Heights resident who frequents the fruit stand. “It’s wonderful. I have four boys who eat a lot of fruit,” she said. “I’ve been stopping on my way home from work regularly. It’s a real addition to the neighborhood.”
Legal or illegal, some still don’t think the stand fits in. “That kind of thing belongs on Court Street, not in Brooklyn Heights,” said one Henry Street resident, who asked that his name not be published.
‘Stuffed Shirts’
Robert Perris, district manager of Community Board 2, visited the fruit stand recently at the request of the Brooklyn Heights Association. “It’s legal from the standpoint of its distance from the subway entrance,” he said. The pushcart vendor has a license, and “the Police Department determined he’s legal.”
“Who’s upset and why?” he asked. “Who’s happy and why? None of the merchants have a problem with it. Who’s complaining and why?
“Is this a throwback to the 18th century? Is it just a bunch of stuffed shirts in Brooklyn Heights against an immigrant with a pushcart?” he asked. “To paraphrase a saying: ‘Sometimes the fights are so fierce because the stakes are so small.’”
© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2008
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