Rally held calling for new bills to ease licensing process for street vendors in NYC

ByEyewitness News

Thursday, August 15, 2024

Rally held calling to ease licensing process for street vendors in NYC

Marcus Solis reports hundreds of street vendors rallied at City Hall for a new set of bills to make it easier for people to obtain a license to become a legal vendor.

LOWER MANHATTAN (WABC) -- Hundreds of street vendors rallied at City Hall on Thursday for a new set of bills to make it easier for people to obtain a license to become a legal vendor.

The "Street Vendor Reform Platform" is a package of bills designed to provide a regulated, predictable, enforceable system for New York's smallest businesses.

The four main pieces of the legislation are: ensuring vendor access to business licensing, reducing criminal liability for general and mobile food vendors, creating a division of street vendor assistance within NYC small business services, and reforming public siting.

Back in 2021, City Council passed Local Law 18 to introduce over 4,450 new mobile food vendor permits -- now called supervisory permits -- over a ten-year period.

As of May 2024, only 127 of the 890 new supervisory permits have been received, even as enforcement against vendors has increased city-wide.

There are nearly 20,000 street vendors in New York City, and they say the bills would give them a real chance to build wealth.

Roughly 3,800 are licensed to sell food and barely 1,800 are licensed for merchandise.

10,992 people are waiting for a permit for general vending and 9,878 people are waiting on a waitlist for food vending.

Legislation proposed City Council would issue at least 1,500 new food vendor licenses and 1,500 general vending licenses. They'd be issued every year for five years before the caps would be abolished.

Anyone who qualifies would be granted a license to set up shop on the city's streets. The legislation also sets rules about where vendors can work and limits on how their merchandise is displayed and sold.

Councilmember Pierina Sanchez is the bill's sponsor.

"We have tens of thousands of people who want to do want a legal fair, way to work in the city of New York, vending their goods. But there's no path for them to do so within the City of New York today," Councilmember Pierina Sanchez said.

Critics say the city's streets need fewer vendors-not more.

"We have a real problem with vendors. Vendors are popping up, like the illegal smoke shops just popped up. They're just they're just appearing. We cannot have that," Councilmember Vickie Paladino said.

Vendors say they shouldn't be discouraged from making a living.

"You're trying to make your own money without public assistance and they still come and hunt you down and take away your stuff and don't let you work," East Harlem vendor Guadalupe Sosa said.

The New York City Independent Budget Office says by passing the "Street Vendor Reform Package" and ensuring vendors can access business licensing, the city stands to gain $17 million in revenue.