City Hall Not Craving More Street Vendor Licenses

NEW YORK — A proposal to offer more permits to New York City's street vendors doesn't smell right to Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration. City Hall raised concerns Thursday about a City Council proposal to more than double the number of street vendor permits, saying other changes need to come to the industry first.

"Getting it right is not necessarily about managing the number of vendors that have licenses or permits but about managing, very specifically, how, when and where that vending is taking place," Lindsay Greene, a senior adviser to the deputy mayor for housing and economic development, said in testimony to the Council.

There are currently just 3,000 permits that allow city street vendors to legally hawk hot dogs, halal platters and other items. The number has been the same for more than three decades, forcing vendors pay as much as $25,000 for permits on the black market when getting one from the city costs just $200, vendor advocates say.

Councilwoman Margaret Chin's bill would phase in 4,000 additional permits over 10 years and establish a new office dedicated to enforcing street-vending laws. It would also create a street vendor advisory board to evaluate the rules.

But the bill would not regulate when and where vendors can operate, meaning it won't address problems such as congestion on streets with many vendors, Greene said. The city must first study and fix the industry's existing regulatory problems, she said, noting that such a review will involve "a long and methodical process."

"We agree in the long-term to allow more licenses, however, we must first institute a system-wide reform so the licenses are operating within a more effective and functional system," Greene said in her written testimony.

The de Blasio administration joined business improvement districts and chambers of commerce in raising concerns about the bill. Business leaders rallied against it outside City Hall Thursday morning — just after more than 100 vendors and advocates gathered to support the measure.

Opponents acknowledged that the bill at least recognized the system for vendor licenses was broken, but they called for additional research into how vendors impact brick-and-mortar businesses and how public sidewalk space is used.

"I'm not here today to speak against vending. I'm a regular coffee guy at an illegally sited coffee cart," said Jeffrey LeFrancois, the executive director of the Meatpacking Business Improvement District. "But we cannot attempt to reform a system that has never been enforced while further giving away precious public space on our already crowded sidewalks."

The bill's supporters argue offering more permits would not cause vending to explode but rather allow existing vendors to operate legally. The current enforcement system leaves vendors vulnerable to harassment and punishment, Chin said. Those without permits reportedly face hefty fines or even confiscation of their equipment.

Hakim El Nagar sells halal food in Midtown and has worked as a vendor for 22 years. While he's been on the waiting list for an official permit since 2006, he said he's been forced to shell out $60,000 every two years to license his three carts on the underground market.

El Nagar said he could open his own store with the money he would save if he were to get his own permit.

"It's going to change my life," said El Nagar, who is an immigrant like many other street vendors. He came to the U.S. from Egypt in 1996.

Chin, a Manhattan Democrat, said her legislation presents an opportunity to improve the broken permit system for everyone, particularly vendors.

"It is unjust and immoral to punish hard-working people for simply trying to make a living so they too can have a piece of the American dream," Chin said.

This story was co-written by Patch editor Sydney Pereira.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the price of getting a permit directly from the city. It is $200, not $300.