Street vendors rallied for Street Vendor Reform Package in NYC. Photo courtesy
On Thursday, October 9th, more than 50 NYC street vendors, elected leaders, including Comptroller Brad Lander and Councilmember Pierina Sanchez, and local allies rallied to demand City Council hold an urgent vote on the pending Street Vendor Reform Package aimed at supporting small businesses and promoting enhanced compliance with health, safety and siting regulations compliance.
Speakers drew attention to the City Council’s need to hold a vote on the Street Vendor Reform Package, given there are only five stated meetings remaining this legislative session to vote on the legislation. At the rally, attendees held up photos of daily police raids that occur across the city, showing groups of armed DSNY and NYPD officers surrounding street vendors to issue $1,000 fines and confiscate their wares, drawing awareness to the increasing risks for vulnerable immigrant street vendors.
“I am a general vendor in Harlem, a proud Black New Yorker. Whether you are American, an immigrant, a veteran, we all need the same thing: license to take care of our family, keep a roof over our head, food in our mouths. So we are here asking the City Council to pass our bills” said street vendor Calvin Baker.
The Street Vendor Reform Package would address these injustices, ensuring all vendors have a fair chance to secure licenses for their businesses, and operate within a regulated, predictable, enforceable system. The legislative package includes Intro 431: ensures all vendors have a fair chance to get licenses for their businesses; Intro 408: creates a division of NYC Small Business Services with educational and compliance services; Intro 1251: ensures that licenses are actually issued each year, not just made “available” in name only; Intro 24: clarifies vendors’ proximity to the curb, ensuring safety for both vendors and pedestrians.
New York City councilwoman Pierina Sánchez defending street vendors in front of City Hall. Photo courtesy
“Across our city, street vendors operate in the shadows because NYC arbitrarily caps vending licenses and permits. The result is neighborhoods like mine, where more than 80% of vendors work without a license — with little access to education on how to operate safely and harmoniously within our communities, no support to promote public health and wellbeing, and no path to full compliance even when they’re willing. As the daughter and granddaughter of hardworking, resilient street vendors, I am committed to reforming this unjust and broken system,” said NYC Council Member Pierina Sanchez. “NYC leaders must come together to address the broken system through legislative and administrative changes. I thank the Street Vendor Coalition for their diligent work in addressing the inequities that our vendors have long faced in New York City, to the many brick and mortar business representatives who have engaged in discussions, and to my colleagues’ ongoing attention to finding a path forward.”
Despite street vendors making up a critical component of NYC’s affordable food scene and contributing millions of dollars annually to the City’s economy, these small business owners face major barriers to accessing legal permits and, as a result, are subject to increased fines, harassment by police, property confiscation and more. Recent reporting reveals that only one-quarter of mobile food vendors have been able to secure a permit for their business and women vendors are especially likely to be blocked from obtaining a license.
“Street vendors are critical to the cultural and economic fabric of our city, but for too long, they have been trapped in a maze of tickets, fines, and convoluted requirements,” said New York City Comptroller Brad Lander. “It is time the Council takes up these bills to end the bureaucratic chaos and allow street vendors to provide the services New Yorkers want in a regulated, predictable, enforceable system.”
Thursday’s rally comes after the NYC City Council voted to override the Mayor’s veto and pass Intro 47, reducing the criminal liability on food and merchandise sales so vendors cannot receive misdemeanor charges for vending. Approximately 23,000 street vendors—majority immigrants, people of color, military veterans and women—work as small business owners supplying food and other goods across New York City. Despite contributing millions of dollars annually to the city’s economy, most of these vendors are blocked from acquiring permits for their business due to an arbitrary, decades-old cap on the number of licenses and permits in circulation.
“Street vendors are New York City’s smallest businesses and provide some of the most affordable options for New Yorkers facing an increasingly unaffordable city. Passing this package would be an enormous benefit to struggling vendors – I proudly sponsor a bill to create a division within Small Business Services to provide resources, training, and educational materials to street vendors. These services are essential in keeping both street vendors and consumers safe. It’s time for the City Council to pass these much needed reforms to an unfair system, and help build a thriving, regulated street vending environment in our neighborhoods” said Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams.
