A mariachi band performs as street vendors call for passage of Intro. 1116 to lift the cap on
permits.
p
Street vendors march
to City Hall again for
end of NYC permit cap
BY MARK HALLUM
One year after the “churro
lady,” Ana Alvarado, was
fi lmed being arrested by
NYPD’s Transit District at the
Broadway Junction subway station
in Brooklyn, organizers marched
to Manhattan on Nov. 12 to again
urge the City Council to end police
harassment of street vendors.
The march of over 200 people
from across the Brooklyn Bridge
to 1 Centre St. in Lower Manhattan
on Thursday called on
lawmakers pass Intro. 1116 to lift
the 4,000 cap on the number of
vendors citywide which has been
in place since 1983, leaving many
immigrant businesses without
vendors permits and victim to
over-policing.
Councilman Carlos Menchaca,
who sponsored the bill, called on
Mayor Bill de Blasio to work with
other elected offi cials in the city
to see the legislation introduced
as far back as September 2018
fi nally signed into law.
“We need this bill done now for
the support of so many vendors
that want to enter the economic
system of this city. What we’re
asking for is the opportunity for
legal permits to go to thousands
of more vendors, this is part
of what we need to do in our
recovery,” Menchaca said. “If
PHOTOS BY MARK HALLUM
you walked and talked with any
of these vendors, many of them
are hungry right now without the
support of the city, the state or the
federal government and all that is
stopping us right now is a vote in
the City Council.”
According to Mohamed Attia
from the Urban Justice Center,
while vendor permits are capped
at 4,000, there could be as many
as 20,000 people selling food and
other goods in the streets of the
fi ve boroughs.
“The city has failed in regulating
street vending, the city
has failed in supporting street
vendors, the most marginalized
small businesses in our city didn’t
get any support before COVID,
during COVID or after COVID,”
Attia said. “Intro. 1116 will be the
fi rst step in the right direction…
It is only one step in a very long
road.”
Manhattan Borough President
Gale Brewer took to the mic to
emphasize the contribution street
vendors make to the New York
City economy, sum $293 million.
Mayor Bill de Blasio, after the
unrest that followed the death of
George Floyd, put a task force
in action to reforms some duties
under the purview of the NYPD
with one of them being regulating
Mohamed Attia, from Urban Justice Center’s Street Vendor
Project, led a rally Nov. 12 for the passage of a City Council
bill to increase the number of permits issued.
who is selling what beyond the
brick and mortar.
“Street vendor enforcement
should no longer be the responsibility
of the NYPD,” de Blasio said
in June. “A civilian agency should
handle that. And the street vendors,
it’s an area that New Yorkers
feel passionately about, it is an example,
what street vendors do, of
so many people creating their own
business, so many people trying to
experience some version of that
American dream that often feels
elusive lately, but still is there.
For so many people of color, for
so many immigrants street vending
is their opportunity to move
forward. They should not have
to engage the NYPD as they’re
trying to make their livelihoods.
Civilian agencies can work on
proper enforcement and that’s
what we’ll do going forward. “
But NYPD is not the only
agency accused of treating street
vendors with a heavy hand.
In April 2019, activists had one
victory in the form of a settlement
paying reparations for fi nes and
destruction of property by the city
Department of Health and Mental
Hygiene (DOHMH). It took two
years, but up to 300 vendors were
paid out from a fund of $188,000
by the city.
Also in attendance at the rally
on Thursday was Public Advocate
Jumaane Williams and Councilwoman
Margaret Chin.
While the street vendors who
turned out did what they do best
– serving food – a mariachi band
and traditional Mexican dancers
held the crowd’s attention.
City Councilman Carlos Menchaca speaking during the Nov. 12 street vendor
rally at City Hall Park.
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams speaks
at the street vendor rally.
4 November 19, 2020 Schneps Media