In the wake of the military-style federal raid targeting vendors on Canal Street last week, street vendors and their advocates are again mounting a push for the City Council to lift the cap on vendor permits once and for all.
Dozens of sellers with the Street Vendor Project rallied outside City Hall Wednesday calling for a slate of reform bills, one of which would lift the decades-old cap on general merchandise permits that has been stuck at just 853 licenses since 1979.
“With a license, we could work in peace and tranquility,” said Fernando Alvarez, 38, in Spanish, a vendor who’s sold seasonal accessories like hats and gloves for the past decade around Corona Plaza in Queens since he immigrated from Ecuador. He joined the marchers Wednesday.
“Yes, there’s the same risk with immigration, but a change in local enforcement, he said, would mean it would make it “a little more sure that you can work in peace. We don’t have to be always running with the fear that they’re going to take away our things and give us tickets.”
In the wake of the Canal Street raid in which masked federal agents targeting West African street vendors arrested nine people, including at least five vendors according to the Street Vendor Project. The group slammed Mayor Eric Adams for his administration’s slow implementation of earlier reforms in a statement after the raid, noting that had been coupled with increased NYPD enforcement which has increasingly funneled vendors into the criminal court system.
“Our city government has failed for decades to regulate the street vending system, to make sure that we have licenses, permits, pathways to compliance,” said Mohamed Attia, the Street Vendor Project’s managing director.
“And what is the result? Street vendors have received criminal tickets. They are getting arrested. They were sent to jail, and now the feds are coming at them and sadly we can only expect more of these attacks on our communities.”
The four bills vendors are pushing would lift caps on food and merchandise licenses, create a Division of Street Vendor Assistance, and allow vendors to sell further away from curbs and street traffic for safety.
The bills add to recent changes enacted by the Council, after overriding Mayor Adams’ veto in September, that reduced criminal consequences for street vendors. Unlicensed vendors can still receive criminal summonses, but once the new law takes effect in March they will no longer face misdemeanor charges.
Asked about the latest reform effort, Julia Agos, a spokesperson for the City Council, pointed to the bills passed this fall.
“While local law cannot prevent the irresponsible actions by ICE, like we saw last week on Canal Street, the additional street vending bills continue to go through the legislative process that is deliberative and allows for thorough public input,” she said.
A spokesperson for Adams didn’t return a request for comment on the bills.
For decades, advocates have attempted to push for the city to lift the street vending cap and for reforms to the city’s byzantine permitting system. While a 2021 law lifted the cap on food vending permits, just 382 new licenses had been issued under the new system, as of this May.
In the meantime, the Adams administration has ramped up criminal enforcement for street vending. The NYPD has issued 918 criminal tickets for vending through July 15 this year, up 16% from the 792 over the same time last year, THE CITY previously reported.
After the Canal Street raid, rumours spread among local activists and vendors of possible raids targeting additional street vendors in Queens, though those haven’t yet come to pass. Rosario Troncoso, a food vendor who usually sells Mexican fare in Queens, said she spent the weekend indoors terrified she’d be arrested by federal agents.
“I didn’t go out to work, I had friends who did, but they were taking a huge risk,” she said in Spanish. “Yes there’s a lot of fear. But, we have to keep fighting and not show our fear, because we have to eat, we have to pay rent.”
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