More than 100 vendors, restaurant owners and other defenders took the City Council’s steps in a rainy morning, demanding an important reform of the city’s old policies on street sales.
Activists from groups such as the Street Vendor Project, elected officials and supporters of street vendors made their voice heard on May 6 to boost the reform package for street vendors, which includes the Proposal Intro 431, a bill that would increase the number of licenses for food and general goods sellers available every year for five years.
The defenders also requested the approval of INTRO 408, which would require the Department of Small Business Services (SBS) to create a division focused on education and guidance to help sellers navigate the permissions process.
The group filled the City Council stairs at Bajo Manhattan before a hearing of the Council on Consumer Protection and the worker on the proposed legislation.
The Bronx Councilor Amanda Farías is the main sponsor of Intro 1251, a bill that is part of the reform package and proposes to increase the amount of food licenses applications every year. According to Local Law 18 of 2021, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene must offer 445 requests for supervision licenses for mobile food vendors every year for a period of 10 years, from 2022 to 2032. Intro 1251 would expand that amount to ensure that more licenses are granted annually.
“They are entrepreneurs, employment generators and culture carriers, but have been trapped in a broken and discriminatory system for too long,” said Farías. “Intro 1251 guarantees that the city complies with its commitment under local law 18 by issuing true licenses for food vendors, not only applications.”
Licenses to sell on the street are almost impossible to obtain
The city requires that business owners have a general seller license to sell goods or services in a public space other than a store. But getting that permission is not easy.
The city limits the general licenses for not 853 and the licenses for food sellers to about 3,000. The waiting list to receive any of these licenses has thousands of people.
Some street vendors have been waiting for decades for a legal permit – and they said on Tuesday that they do not want to violate the law to make a living.
“I’ve been trying to get a license for 35 years,” Calvin explained, a Harlem seller who offers rings, caps, chains and similar items. “It’s a big problem. I want to keep my family like anyone. And I want to make it legal, not illegal.”
The Street Vendor Project estimates that there are about 23,000 street vendors in NYC, most of them food. Approximately 75% of food sellers and 37% of general goods sellers are not licensed.
The defenders attribute the lack of licenses to restrictive laws approved in 1979 and 1983, which limit the amount of permits that the city can issue. Both defenders and local officials affirm that this shortage also prevents adequate supervision and regulation of the products sold.
Mohamed Attia, director of the Street Vendor Project, spoke about the proposed legislation and said it would be a triple benefit for the city, sellers and consumers.
“We have seen great success in our community educational campaigns when we give sellers information, tools and a clear path to follow: they know how to operate and can concentrate on what they love, prepare their food and serve their community,” said Attia. “Sellers are eager to work with city leaders to modernize this system and to efficiently serve all New Yorkers.”
He also described how the current system is “designed to fail.” But the Intro 431 would reform the process by gradually opening licenses and permits, creating 1,500 new general licenses and 1,500 licenses for food vendors every five years.
“After that, the waiting list would virtually be deleted; there will be no list, people can access the permits and licenses immediately,” he explained.
For many street vendors who have English as a second language, getting adequate permits and licenses becomes even more difficult in a system full of complex rules and processes.
This is where Enter 408 enters.
Public defender Jumaane Williams explained that this project would establish a division within the SBS to provide resources, training and educational materials to street vendors and help them legally sell their products and food.
“These services are essential to protect both sellers and consumers,” he said.
Public opposition for illegal traveling
Many New Yorkers support the reform of street vendors, but express concern when it is done illegally.
Margot Brie, a New York resident, told Amnewyork last month that his main restlessness is security and if sellers who offer food comply with the appropriate cleaning standards.
“We have seen sellers cutting mangoes with the same knife without water to clean it,” he said. “In addition, they manipulate the fruit with naked hands, sometimes they sneak in them or touch everything around them. I am surprised that there are no more sick people by all unhealthy bacteria and conditions.”
According to the NYC Sanitation Department, the agency received 22,000 complaints last year about illegal sale.
The New York Police issued hundreds of citations only in the traffic system during the first four months of the year.
“The sale within the transit system is illegal, and the NYPD continues to face this situation with measures that may include expulsion, citation and/or arrest,” said a spokesman for the NYPD public information commissioner. “This year we have issued more than 300 summons for sales or illegal requests in traffic.”
Mayor Eric Adams said during a press conference on Tuesday that residents have complained that there are too many illegal sellers settling in local streets, affecting nearby businesses.
“When we talk about sellers for sellers, it comes from the community,” he said. “People do not want to see an lack of control in their neighborhood. It was the community that called us when they saw the Brooklyn bridge full of vendors.”
The mayor explained why the permits must follow a process with rules and guidelines to be fair with all the merchants of the city.
“We must have a fair system of licenses for sellers, but it cannot be a total disorder,” said Adams. “So for those who say ‘only deliver licenses to all’, we will not do it. We are going to monitor, make sure that it is done correctly and that an environment is believed where businesses thrive.”
Possible economic benefits
Meanwhile, researchers from the City Budget Office recently estimated to approve the reform package could have a net impact of $ 59 million annually for the local economy.
Comptroller Brad Lander, candidate for mayor this year, insisted on the positive impact that the legalization of street trade would have on the economy, and added that it supports the entire reform package.
“If we granted licenses to all sellers on the waiting list, the city would generate almost $ 60 million in income,” he said. “We must address the structural problems that are at the root of this problem, move towards a functional regulatory system, ensure that our public spaces are clean and accessible, and help our smaller businesses stabilize and prosper.”
