Street vendor in Jackson Heights June 2021 (Queens Post)
Jan. 24, 2022 By Max Parrot
Gov. Kathy Hochul plans to set aside $1 billion for small businesses in the next budget—but unlicensed street vendors are not eligible to get any of the funds.
Senator Jessica Ramos and Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas said a bill they have introduced to reform the street vendor system would address the issue.
The legislation is aimed at quickly expanding the number of licensed vendors by removing a cap on street vendor permits in New York City. Obtaining a permit would bring vendors one step closer to getting state aid, the legislators said.
“We know what a lack of licenses can mean for the small business owners who are working to provide for their families and communities. People of color who are answering the call to build and create are penalized and overpoliced because they lack the recognition that a business license grants them,” said Ramos in a statement.
The proponents of the bill will have to contend with critics who argue street vendors block the sidewalks and compete with brick-and-mortar shops and restaurants, many of which are immigrant-owned as well.
The governor’s Executive Budget includes relief for small businesses in the form of tax credits designed to help them survive the pandemic. The state also launched a small business recovery grant program over the summer. Both forms of aid require a business license to participate.
The state legislation would go further than efforts that the city has made to reform the street vendor system over the pandemic.
Last summer the City Council passed legislation that will create 4,000 new street vendor permits over the next decade, but that program is set to expand gradually, opening an additional 400 licenses every year, starting this coming summer.
The legislators pointed out that because the number of licenses in New York City will continue to be limited for the near future, unlicensed street vendors may not be able to register their business in time to be eligible for the relief outlined in the governor’s budget.
In addition to eliminating the cap on the number of licenses, the bill would make it so that selling without a license was not a criminal offense. Last January, the city formally transferred the responsibility of street vendor inspections from the NYPD to the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection — a change that was celebrated by street vendors and advocates. The law would reduce the fines that unlicensed vendors would face from the DCWP as well as dismissing any remaining criminal prosecutions from before the agency took over enforcement.
Another proviso of the bill would ease restrictions on the hours and locations where vendors can operate. That’s not to say that the bill would eliminate all restrictions on vending, but it would create a standard that they need to stem from “objective health, safety, or welfare concerns.”
Mohamed Attia, managing director of the Street Vendor Project, explained that in the Mayor Giuliani-era a body called the Street Vendor Review Panel was in charge of implementing restrictions of vendors through a public complaint process. Vendors argued that the panel was overly sympathetic to the interests of big business and real estate. It created restrictions that were overly strict — many of which remain in effect, Attia added.
Vendors are not without critics in community organizations though. City Limits found that in the first nine months of 2021, the DCWP received over 4,000 complaints about street vending — many from business improvement districts, community boards and elected officials. But Attia insisted that the new standard would take a more balanced approach to restrictions that was focused on health and welfare concerns.
“It’s not gonna be based on some arbitrary requests from big businesses or real estate who have particular interests in making their areas or their blocks vendor-free,” he said.
González-Rojas pointed out that the New York State Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian Legislative Caucus supported the legislation in its 2022 People’s Budget.
“We need to pass A5081 to legalize street vending, bringing revenue back to our cities and state while honoring the valued contributions of immigrant entrepreneurs,” she said.
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10 Comments
Jackson Hts slums today on any day you will find 82 vendors pushing stolen stuff paying no sales tax.On Roosevelt ave bet 82 and 83 street whores peddle themselves openly, further up street food vendors selling food breed in there yard and basement business that pay rent must pick us the toilet remains and boxes my advise to store owners stop paying rent. Houses in the area rent out the basement floor dirty mattress one toilet and nude kids the worst is yet to come, where one toilet house contains 16 to 24 non legals.
Non legal street vendors have destroyed Jackson Heights It’s a joke when people pay so much money to live in Jackson heights. A resident of JH for 50 years I have watched the area become a slum area You no longer have space to walk on 82 St from morning to night you will find peddlers drug pushers and open whores selling there flesh with aids. The tax paying people clean up there bowel movements and needles the food vendors open sell poison food breed in the waste in there homes and yards all I can do is to advise store owners to stop paying rent.
I too desperately want my neighborhood back. Since as far back as last summer I have emailed Community Board 3 and even Elmhurst’s CB 4 to request of them to address these exact problems. Even though those emails included detailed info, photos and specific addresses of the most egregious offendors, I never received a response from them. This illegal street vendor problem will undoubtedly get worse as the warmer weather approaches. Join me in raising this into a serious concern that won’t be ignored any longer. Let’s get our beautiful, Historic neighborhood back!
Because Roosevelt Avenue, Junction Boulevard, and Broadway aren’t too crowded, cluttered, and filthy as they currently are with all the street vendors we already have (and the store owners who use the sidewalks to sell all their wares). Give me a break!
Street vendors dont pay taxes or rent..its unfare to those local small businsses..not in support of street vendors being legal..if thats the case stop taxing me so much every year
Do we really want our neighborhood to permanently turn into a seven-days-a-week flea market? I’d rather move somewhere else. Everything about this neighborhood is going down the toilet and our elected officials are pushing it in that direction.
Agree 100%…I dont want my neighborhood looking like a dirty rat infested flea market 24/7 can barely walk on junction blvd and 82nd st..enough is enough!!..these vendors are not paying anything to make their messy stands all over the neighborhood
Couldn’t agree more!! Junction is DISGUSTING…especially that corner on Junction and Roosevelt! They have food – uncovered – under the train tracks where who only knows falls into it. No safety precautions, no inspections. They OVER flow the garbage cans in the area, the street drains are covered in trash.
Why not kill 2 birds with one stone? Since they’re closing off 34th Avenue to cars permanently, why not let them sell their stuff along the Avenue? Or will offend the high and mighty Co-op owners along the mile stretch? Or will they give everyone the NIMBY routine…
Its not the high and mighty on 34 ave. Some folks have lived there for years and cannot afford to move anywhere else. Why should they have to shoulder the
burden of extra garbage from food vendors bringing more rats to the area. If you are not licensed, you should not be selling everything and the kitchen sink in the neighborhood.