The city has announced a new deal to get community street vendors back into business in the heart of Corona, Queens.

According to a press release, the city will allow 14 vendors, the majority selling food, into Corona Plaza.

The plaza, a triangular slice of a block off of Roosevelt Avenue, has been quiet since a crackdown approximately four months ago by the city.

The Sanitation Department swept up the unlicensed street vendors after a spike in noise and trash complaints.

Vendors, who were mainly migrants, complained they lost their ability to earn a living, and now a spark of hope.

“The last four months I [didn’t work], but now I am happy,” said Rosario Troncoso, a displaced street vendor and board president of the Corona Plaza Street Vendors Association. “I am very happy for everyone. I will work in the plaza.”

Troncoso wants to return to selling Mexican crafts and bags in the plaza.

“It is important because people, we need to eat to be okay, we need to eat to be happy, right?” said Sandra Medina, who’s originally from Ecuador.

She said she frequently visits street vendors because the food they sell is affordable.

There were concerns about safety and cleanliness from community members, who saw an uptick in the number of unlicensed food carts since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The newly regulated approach, a first of its kind in the city, allows vendors to come out of the shadows.

The Street Vendor Project, a nonprofit, which has been advocating on behalf of the street vendors, said this is a first-step in the right direction.

“All the vendors here in Corona Plaza live in Corona,” said Matthew Shapiro, legal director at the Street Vendor Project. “So they’re serving foods from their native country. They’re selling merchandise to members of the community. Whenever you have street vendors on the street or in areas that [bring] more foot traffic and that benefits not just the vendors, but all the local businesses around here.”

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards said original vendors, like Troncoso, will be prioritized for spaces here.

Despite the initial plan for 14 street vendors, Richards said they will reassess in four months with the hopes of trying to increase that number. He said he believes in supporting migrants who want to achieve the American Dream.

The Queens Economic Development Corporation, which is overseeing this new process, said street vendors will be up and running Wednesday.