BRONX TIMES REPORTER, J BTR ULY 30-AUG. 5, 2021
letters & comments
Photo Adrian Childress
To the Editor,
The following open letter
was sent to Mayor Bill de Blasio,
Deputy Mayor J. Philip
Thompson, Deputy Mayor
Vicki Been, Commissioner of
Small Business Services Jonnel
Doris and Commissioner
of Community Affairs Roberto
Perez on July 23.
We are writing in response
to the recent NYPD crackdown
on street vendors, New York
City’s smallest businesses, on
Fordham Road in the Bronx.
For too long, street vendors
have been treated like criminals
by police, when in reality
these are small businesses
run primarily by immigrants,
women and people of color, that
feed our communities, contribute
to the local economy, and
enrich the culture of our city.
Like other small businesses,
vendors have been decimated
by the COVID-19 pandemic.
We are appalled by your decision
to send the New York Police
Department to harass the
hard working entrepreneurs
on Fordham Road on Wednesday,
July 21, going back on
your statement in June 2020
that NYPD would no longer
be involved in street vending.
How can you honor vendors as
essential workers in the Hometown
Heroes Parade, and now
send offi cers to harass them for
providing an essential service?
You cannot continue a
vending system that is inherently
inequitable and then rain
down police to enforce it. For
decades, vendors have been
forced to work excluded from
the formal economy, subject to
antiquated regulation spurred
by larger business interests,
and unable to access the business
licensing they so desperately
need. The only thing
accomplished by calling for
punitive enforcement on unlicensed
street vendors is the
reinforcement of a system that
criminalizes poverty, rather
than supporting entrepreneurship
so desperately needed to
stimulate the economy.
Neighborhoods with a
strong small business community
that include vendors as
well as brick-and-mortar businesses
are the foundation of a
successful and vibrant commercial
corridor, and fueling
division only hurts our city’s
recovery. Now that some New
Yorkers have turned to vending
because of the pandemic,
the city should do more to encourage
this entrepreneurship,
rather than viewing it as
a “quality of life” problem that
needs NYPD enforcement.
Mayor de Blasio, we call on
you to keep your word to our
city’s essential workers and
ensure the NYPD is no longer
involved in street vendor enforcement.
New York State Senate
Jessica Ramos, Jabari Brisport,
Robert Jackson, Gustavo
Rivera and Alessandra Biaggi
New York State Assembly
Khaleel Anderson, Jessica
González-Rojas, Diana Richardson,
Robert Carroll, Catalina
Cruz, Emily Gallagher,
Marcela Mitaynes, Harvey Epstein,
Yuh-Line Niou, Jose Rivera
and Kenny Burgos
New York City Council
Margaret Chin, Helen
Rosenthal, Diana Ayala,
Jimmy Van Bramer, Antonio
Reynoso, Carlos Menchaca and
Brad Lander
Organizations
161st Street Business Improvement
District, City Workers
for Justice, Food Chain
Workers Alliance, Immigration
Advocates Network, Jews
for Racial and Economic Justice,
Laundry Workers Center,
Make the Road New York, National
Day Laborer Organizing
Network, New York Communities
for Change, New York City
Artist Coalition, New York Immigration
Coalition, Queens
Mutual Aid Network, Queens
Neighborhoods United, Street
Vendor Project, Urban Justice
Center, Transportation Alternatives
and The Riders Alliance”
To the Editor,
The following is an open letter
to Mayor Bill de Blasio and
City Council Speaker Corey
Johnson printed at the request
of the authors.
We write to you today July
20 to express concern and urgency
with quality of life and
public safety matters in the
Bronx’soldest commercial district
at 149th Street and Third
Avenue in the HUB. Collectively,
we represent more than
500 smallbusinesses and 100
property owners that have
faithfully served this community
for generations. We arerepresented
by one of the most
active economic development
organizations in the Bronx,
Third Avenue BusinessImprovement
District, which addresses
barriers for district
small- and micro-business
owners and builds robust equitable
economic development
tools by demanding equitable
city resources, safer and
cleaner streets, and responsible,
mission-driven development.
Third Avenue BID has
and continues to be a leader
in public andprivate partnerships,
and has driven millions
of dollars in private resources
to the neighborhood.
Sadly, this is not enough.
During the COVID-19 pandemic,
Third Avenue Business
Improvement District was
one of the only organizations
that did not suspend services
and was a leader in developing
outer borough models for
economic recovery. Unfortunately,
the city has not responded
with a complementary
plan to appropriately
addresseconomic and neighborhood
recovery – specifi -
cally quality of life and public
safety matters in the community.
These matters include:-
Open drug use and drug sale
continue to plague this community,
triggering at least
3-5 overdoses daily in the
district.-Gang members harass
and control streets and
public places, with many attempting
to exercise infl uenceover
small businesses.-According
to Special Narcotic
Prosecutor Brennan, a drug
cartel uses the HUB as a central
distributionpoint for the
fl ow of drugs into New York
City.-Umbrella Hotel, located
on Elton Avenue, had the largest
take down of fentanyl in
New York City history and still
operates allegedly as a front
for drugs and prostitution.-
Homelessness runs rampant
with not clear city policy to
address the matter in an expedited,
serious and meaningful
way.-Illegal vending has taken
over sidewalks with limited to
no real enforcement due to policies
passed by the New York
City Council.-Violent crime
continues to increase.-And,
substance use clinics and temporary
housing continue to
oversaturate the community
with bad actor providers who
cash in on services yet do not
secure results.
These matters were not
brought about by the pandemic,
only exacerbated by it.
They have always been in the-
HUB, which for generations
has become the “dumping
ground” for New York City’s
challenges without any realconnection
to a plan to address
it. As community members,
business owners and property
owners representing one of the
most diverse and high need
communities in New York City
we demand that you create a
tangible,action-driven plan to
assist us in addressing these
damning concerns immediately.
We have participated in
coalitions, agency walking
tours, councilmember visits,
education programs, charettesand
public meetings – all to
no avail. We need to have a
formal response and immediate
action plan implemented
by city government to address
these concerns. Third Avenue
Business Improvement District
hastripled down on service
provision, but the city has
not. We need New York City to
protect ourneighborhoods and
the small business lifeblood of
our community.
A group of representatives
from the area are ready to
meet with you immediately
to implement solutions so thatour
neighborhood might recover
from COVID-19 and
years of neglect by New York
City. Please contact Michael-
Brady, CEO of Third Avenue
Business Improvement District,
to facilitate this discussion
–mbrady@thirdavenuebid.
org.
Members of the
Third Avenue Business
LET US HEAR FROM YOU
Letters to the editor are welcome from all readers. They should be addressed
care of this newspaper to Laura Guerriero, Publisher, the Bronx Times Reporter,
3604 E. Tremont Ave., Bronx, NY 10465, or e-mail to bronxtimes@cnglocal.com.
All letters, including those submitted via e-mail, MUST be signed and with a
verifi able address and telephone number included.
Note that the address and telephone number will NOT be published and the
name will be published or withheld upon request.
No unsigned letters can be accepted for publication. The editor reserves the
right to edit all submissions.
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