People We Meet: Josefina Vasquez

San Francisco CA

27 January, 2021

5:35 PM

Description

By Juan Carlos Lara, Mission Local January 26, 2021 From the corner of Bryant and 24th streets, where Josefina Vasquez sells flowers, "everything has changed" with the pandemic, she says in Spanish. Restaurants and nail salons have closed – those businesses that remain no longer let her use their bathrooms. Her business has also dropped by more than half but her home is nearby and she still shows up for work, exchanging greetings with the people she recognizes. When a man parks his truck at a parking meter in front of Vasquez, she tells him the meter is broken. "Can you watch for parking enforcement?" he asks. Yes, she says and he walks briskly down the street. Vasquez has been living nearby for just over 20 years. The spot is a good one, she says even though nowadays she often has to throw away flowers at the end of the day. The man who parked earlier returns to his truck. "La Palma is closed," he said in Spanish. "Today's Tuesday," Vasquez said, "they're closed on Tuesdays now." Mission Local covers San Francisco from the vantage point of the Mission, a neighborhood with all of the promise and problems of a major city. You can support Mission Local here.