Street vendors demand reforms –

NEW YORK (EFE).— Hundreds of street vendors in New York, most of them immigrants, yesterday demanded that the local government approve a package of reforms that would guarantee them access to business licenses, which would stop fines and confiscation of merchandise.

Called the Street Vendor Reform Platform, the package includes projects to ensure access to more business licenses: reduce fines, which can be as high as $1,000; create a vendor assistance division within small business services; and prevent crowding in public areas.

Nearly 20,000 people, mostly immigrants, people of color and veterans, work as street vendors in New York, which translates into $712 million in taxes paid to the city, state and federal governments, and $293 million in contributions to the local economy.

Thousands more, however, are on a waiting list for a license, leading to a proliferation of vendors who do not have one and are looking to support their families, especially after the pandemic, when there was a huge loss of jobs, and after the wave of immigration in the last two years in the city.

The increase in street vendors has been seen especially in the Queens neighborhood, the most ethnically diverse, where intervention by the authorities is frequent.

Many vendors marched through the streets of lower Manhattan yesterday to City Hall, supported by the Coalition for Street Vendor Justice, making their demands heard in several languages ​​for the repair of a system that, they say, “is broken.”

“We want justice for all vendors,” “I love our vendors,” and “We are small business owners. Without our sacrifice, there is no improvement,” read some of their messages.

Yesenia, a Mexican vendor who supports two small children and helps her parents with the fruits of her labor, selling traditional sweets in the Bronx, told EFE that she was fined $50 for not having a license, and sometimes returns home after work with only $40.

Although she has not experienced it herself, the young woman claims to have seen her colleagues “run” from the presence of the authorities to avoid being fined or having their products confiscated.

The Sanitation Department is the main agency in charge of supervising vendors, although the police also intervene frequently.

Vivien Grullon, who has been selling accessories in Queens for 29 years, said she had to quickly pack up her merchandise on Wednesday and escape from authorities who confiscated large quantities of the merchandise in that borough.

He also said that in the absence of permits, a black market has proliferated in which owners of permits for food vending carts rent their permits for thousands of dollars.

A data analysis by The City online newspaper published in June showed that citations issued by law enforcement in city parks for unauthorized vending have increased over the past three years.

The number of citations for such violations increased by 30% in 2023 compared to 2019, it said.