'Help Us To Serve You': NYC Street Vendors Rally For Protections

NEW YORK CITY — As a crowd of New York City street vendors rallied in front of City Hall, one carried a sign scrawled with a simple message: "Help us serve you."

The dozens of protesters who gathered Thursday called on City Council members to pass protections for thousands of street vendors who struggle for scarce permits and face increased, at-times arbitrary, NYPD enforcement.

Sammy Saleh, a Times Square vendor who runs two food carts, said unfair city rules and increased enforcement, especially over this summer, threaten to force him out of a family business he has run for 15 years.

"What am I going to do?" he said.

Street vendors are part of New York City's fabric, but they have long complained about outdated rules governing their livelihoods.

Advocates with the NYC Street Vendor Justice Coalition, which organized the march and rally, called for sweeping changes to the rules that were crafted in the 1970s and 80s.

One such rule is a cap on street vendor permits and licenses, said Council Member Shekar Krishnan.

"It is a problem of artificial scarcity generated by our government to limit the number of permits, and go out and harass them," he said.

State Sen. Jessica Ramos pointed out that former Mayor Bill de Blasio approved a measure to add 400 permits to go out this year. But she said Mayor Eric Adams has so far done nothing, and called on him to not just be a mayor for "big business."

Lawmakers need to bring the city's street vending rules into the 21st century, she said.

"Look at our smallest entrepreneurs, fighting to keep a roof over their heads, food on the tables for their families — they deserve dignity," she said. "They are not criminals, they are hard-working people looking for dignity and legalization of their businesses."

But even street venders with city permits and licenses, such as Saleh, can face problems as NYPD officers and other city agencies enforce rules that often don't make sense, advocates and vendors said.

Amid the sea of signs and slogans, Saleh stood out as he carried a candy-colored stack of tickets. Each ticket represented a fine he received in recent months for his carts in Times Square — all told, he has lost track of how many fines he received, beyond that they total thousands of dollars.

The violation? Not being 18 inches from the curb, he said.

Saleh said that wasn't a problem until about two years ago, when the city added new barriers to the curbs, making it "impossible" to fit his cart within the regulated space.

Even as police started this summer to issue him tickets on a near-daily basis, he didn't close down. He noted that his business in Times Square has been around much longer than the barriers.

"If they give me a thousand tickets, I'll keep going," he said.

But Times Square isn't where most street vendors get tickets and experience law enforcement "harassment," said Krishnan.

Jackson Heights, which Krishnan represents, and other communities of color are disproportionately hit by fines, he said.

"What we're facing is instead of city that embraces street vendors, is a city that slaps fines, penalties and puts up so many barriers to get those permits in the first place," he said.