Councilmembers Pierina Sanchez, Amanda Farías, Shekar Krishnan, and Carmen De La Rosa, along with Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, joined a coalition of vendor advocates last week to demand street vendor reform citywide and promote their bills.
New York City’s vending culture has been a fairly visible form of entrepreneurship for Black, brown, immigrant, and veteran New Yorkers for decades. Historically, there’s been resistance to supporting the vendors as small businesses and giving out licenses. Under Mayor Eric Adams, the city handed off enforcement over street vendors from the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) to the Department of Sanitation (DSNY), with which the NYPD assists.
In August, Amsterdam News reported at length about the frustrations that a number of the city’s vendors, licensed or not, had with the “outdated” and capped vending system. They complained about being constantly harassed and arrested, and having their items thrown out.
“The hope is that the legislation that is being considered is going to effectively legalize street vending, by bringing more folks out of the shadows into the light, where they can access education, where they can understand how to reduce conflict with pedestrians and brick-and-mortars,” said Sanchez, who’s passionate about this topic because of family members who were vendors. “[C]reating a system like that—it is going to help street vendors to just make an honest living.”
The “Street Vendor Reform” package includes four bills that ensure vendors have access to licenses, reduce criminalization and public siting limits, and create a Division of Street Vendor Assistance in the city’s Department of Small Business Services (SBS). The reform bills have been praised by street vendors and advocate groups.
“The City Council is taking a historic step to reform the street vending industry,” said Mohamed Attia, managing director of the Street Vendor Project (SVP) at the Urban Justice Center, in a statement. “The Street Vendor Reform legislative package will create a win-win situation for all New Yorkers by addressing the need for both regulation and opportunity for the city’s smallest businesses.”
SVP Deputy Director Carina Kaufman-Gutierrez said their organization crowdsourced information and experiences from numerous street vendors to help council members craft the reform bills.
At present, she said, if anyone has a Social Security Number (SSN) or someone who is an asylum seeker or undocumented has an Individual Taxpayer Identification (ITIN) number, they are technically eligible to register to get a New York State Certificate of Authority for sales taxes and then seek a license or permit that way.
However, that might not be enough protection. “Even if you have a license or permit, you can be subject to a criminal arrest,” said Kaufman-Gutierrez about the problematic history of discrimination against street vendors.
According to Councilmember Shekar Krishnan, in a statement, “Street vendors provide a lifeline for many immigrant New Yorkers. They are our smallest businesses. I am proud to introduce a bill as part of a legislative package on street vending to decriminalize vending violations. No vendor should face jail time and a criminal conviction for trying to feed their families.”
Nova Felder, lead organizer for the Evolved Harlem Merchants Coalition, is in full support of the bills. He said inequity often begins with legislation, but correcting those inequities can also begin with new legislation. He believes vendors should have a right to do business legally without going to jail, being harassed, or being priced out via violations and over-ticketing.
“The bills proposed to overhaul NYC’s vending system [or lack thereof] is a step toward changing economic inequities in doing business that tend to adversely affect Black, brown, and immigrant communities,” Felder said. “A city such as New York that was built on the hustle and is sustained by deals (usually found with street vendors) and its unique culture has to acknowledge the smallest of small businesses that, in many respects, is the life blood of this city. We cannot afford to hold up only billionaire’s row and asylum seekers while forgetting about those in the middle [who] have made this city go and will continue to make it a unique place to do business, to live, and to raise a family.”
This Wednesday, December 13, the DCWP committee held an oversight hearing on street vending in the city to hear some of the proposed bills and receive updates on Local Law 18 of 2021, which requires that the city issue 445 new permits yearly.
Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member who writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.