SEE: Midtown Street Vendors Move Planters To Reclaim Street Space

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — Midtown Manhattan street vendors at odds with an area business improvement district made good on a promise to physically remove large planters that vendors say are illegally blocking sidewalk space for their carts.

Members of the Street Vendor Project forcibly moved a planter on the corner of West 31st Street and Broadway on Monday morning in order to position a fruit cart on the corner back into its original spot, according to a video posted to the nonprofit's Facebook page. The planters were installed by the 34th Street Partnership, which claims it has an open-ended agreement with the city to beautify Midtown streets with decorations such as planters and benches.

Vendors held a rally at the spot last week ago to demand the city Department of Transportation remove the planters.

"We have a big question — who has the right to use public space?" Street Vendor Project co-director Mohamed Attia said during the rally. "Is it made only for the rich people and the big businesses, is it made only for the real estate owners or is it made for everybody? Is it made for all New Yorkers, especially those immigrants the hardworking people who are here in the streets every day."

Moving a single planter proved to be a large undertaking for the street vendors. Vendors had to dig out plants and dirt from the large bins before unbolting the planter from the street. The planter was moved to another spot on the corner before being re-filled, according to the video. The whole process took about 45 minutes.

Watch the video of the Street Vendor Project removing the planter below:

The city Department of Transportation told Patch that the business improvement district have a "maintenance agreement" that allows the partnership free rein to install structures on streets within its area — which spans 31 total blocks near landmarks such as Penn Station, Madison Square Garden, Herald Square and the Empire State Building — a department spokeswoman said in a statement.

Dan Biederman, president of the 34th Street Partnership, also disputed vendors' claims that planters on the stretch of Broadway were installed to displace street vendors, saying the group has a "persecution complex." He added that vendors on the block are only bringing attention to the planters because construction at 1250 Broadway has made the heavily-trafficked street extremely narrow.

Read Patch's previous coverage on the dispute over street space here.