NEW YORK — Hundreds of street vendors in New York, mostly immigrants, demanded this Thursday that the city approve a reform to this sector so that they are considered as small businesses and more licenses are approved that allow them to work legally with the in order to avoid large fines and the confiscation of your merchandise.
They also ask as part of this reform that the places designated for street sales be expanded.
The vendors, from various ethnic groups and carrying signs in various languages with their demands, held a protest in front of the City Hall where they launched their initiative “Reform of Street Vendors” supported by a coalition of organizations from various sectors and several councilors.
“I love New York. We have essential workers to be grateful for by improving street sales,” read one message in Arabic as a Latino vendor held up a sign saying “legalizing retail is a moral duty.”
These workers have demanded for years that the city expand the licenses to legally sell on the street, since they were frozen in 1979 and the workers have been selling without permits, exposing themselves to a fine of $1,000, which is often the amount they sell. in a week, or by renting a permit (for amounts up to $25,000) to those who have had it for years, in an underground market.
Currently, there are more than 10,000 people on the waiting list for permits to sell food and 11,926 individuals for the sale of other types of merchandise, according to data from the Street Vendors Project.
In 2021, after an intense struggle of several years, the Council (municipal legislature) only approved 4,450 new permits to sell food over the next 10 years, but the Department of Health has not yet started issuing the new licenses.
“I have dreamed of owning a food truck so that I can sell West African pastries,” said Rose Goba, who fought for the new licenses but will not benefit because her number on the waiting list is so high.
The workers seek with the reform to create a division in the Small Business Administration dedicated to street vendors and thus receive fair treatment since they pay taxes.
Among the councilors who support the claims is Pierina Sánchez, of Dominican origin, who recalled that her father was a street vendor, both in the Dominican Republic and in New York and that she has relatives who sell on the streets.
The councilwoman cited statistics from 2012 that street vendors paid $71.2 million in local, state and federal taxes that year, contributed $293 million to the local economy, and generated $192 million in profits.
It is estimated that in New York there are 20,000 vendors on the streets of the city.
The councilors supported a reform that would bring street vending out of the shadows and affirmed that these vendors “are the soul and heart of the city, the ones who feed us, say good morning and connect you with your culture.”
