Street vendors will no longer face possible jail time for minor violations.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
Vendors, activists and local elected officials gathered on the steps of City Hall on Monday, celebrating the first bill from the Street Vendor Reform Package going into effect
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According to the Street Vendor Project, there are 23,000 vendors across the five boroughs
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Last year alone, the NYPD issued more than 3,600 vending-related criminal summonses<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not a criminal. I was just doing my job, trying to provide for my family. I\u2019m just [making] an honest living,\u201d Mahmoud Zaed, who has been a street vendor for 18 years, said.<\/p>\n
He expanded his business to four locations across the city, with three in Manhattan and one in Queens.<\/p>\n
Zaed said he\u2019s received several summonses over the years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey can give you a criminal ticket for any reason. Let\u2019s say if you\u2019re not hanging your license, let\u2019s say you\u2019re one foot more close to the crosswalk. We\u2019re supposed to be 10 feet. Let\u2019s say I\u2019m nine feet. If a cop stops by and says, \u2018You\u2019re nine feet,\u2019 and he gives you a criminal ticket,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
On Monday, vendors, activists and local elected officials gathered on the steps of City Hall celebrating the first bill from the Street Vendor Reform Package going into effect.<\/p>\n
Local Law 122 ensures vendor-related violations will no longer result in jail time, probation or fines.<\/p>\n
Advocates this will protect an industry that is overwhelmingly made up of immigrants.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a huge step toward equity and justice for immigrants in New York City who now no longer have to fear going to criminal court for something as simple as serving tamales to provide for their families,\u201d Carina Kaufman-Gutierrez, the co-director of the Street Vendor Project, said.<\/p>\n
According to the Street Vendor Project, there are 23,000 vendors across the five boroughs. Last year alone, the NYPD issued more than 3,600 vending-related criminal summonses.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you are in immigration proceedings, that\u2019s also something that will show up on your record any time a judge is reviewing your case \u2014 be it an asylum case, be it applying for citizenship. It will always show up, even if the ticket is dismissed,\u201d Kaufman-Gutierrez said. \u201c[There are] still penalties, there\u2019s still enforcement if you do break any violation, but it becomes a civil penalty rather than a criminal penalty.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zaed said he can go to work every day without fear, knowing he and his fellow vendors are being treated like any other small business owner.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels great, especially if the cops stop by me, I\u2019ll just pay the violation. You\u2019re not gonna treat me like a criminal person, you\u2019re not gonna give me a criminal ticket. It feels better, you know? When you feel respected, it makes you feel better,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
By 2027, the city will also increase the number of permits and licenses available to vendors, which has been capped for decades.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Street vendors will no longer face possible jail time for minor violations. What You Need To Know Vendors,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[25,9,24,12,56,63,65,64,122,332,27,200],"class_list":["post-159582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-app-top-stories","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-queens","tag-rebecca-greenberg","tag-top-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}