As the City Reins in Food Vendors, Voters Will Get Their Say in November

Los Almendros serves Salvadoran pupusas, tamales and aguas frescas in Corona, Queens. (Credit: Maria Guinnip)

As New York City pushes efforts to remove unlicensed street vendors, officials have turned to the Department of Sanitation to enforce a crackdown. But an increase in enforcement without an expanded licensing effort has exacerbated an already complex issue.

Now, the city wants voters to expand its powers to remove vendors, while the City Council and state Legislature consider other measures to regulate or expand access.

On Nov. 5, New Yorkers will vote on an obscure proposition that would increase the Sanitation Department’s jurisdiction and enforcement powers. City officials and some small businesses say this is necessary, citing concerns related to health regulations, accessibility and garbage. Unlicensed vendors say they have little choice but to operate in the shadows, given the long waitlist for new licenses.

“You would expect a government official to actually help that vendor get a license — not issue them a $1,000 fine, which can make them and their families unstable,” said Carina Kaufman-Gutierrez, deputy director of the Street Vendor Project, which represents 2,900 vendors.

Guadalupe Sosa, an East Harlem fruit vendor and a member of the Project’s Leadership Board, said a fine isn’t going to deter sellers. “You get ticketed, and you can’t stop selling… You have to make enough to pay it.” Sosa said things have gotten worse since last March, when Mayor Eric Adams moved enforcement to the Department of Sanitation from the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection.

Vendors are frequently penalized for operating illegally, even as many of them are stuck on a waitlist of an estimated 20 years to get a license. The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene issues the licenses and permits, which vendors need to sell food on the street. According to the Street Vendor Advisory Board, they are capped by the permit type, and these permits are not currently available. Kaufman-Gutierrez estimated that if all prospective vendors — including those selling non-food items — were licensed, the city would make an additional $17.1 million from fees and taxes.

In September, the Immigration Research Initiative, a nonpartisan think tank, released data from a 2021 survey that showed there were about 23,000 street vendors across the five boroughs, with a third of those located in six zip codes, mostly in Corona, Queens, and Lower Manhattan. The data also revealed that while most merchandise vendors have licenses, only a quarter of an estimated 20,500 mobile food vendors have permits.

Now the issue goes to voters. Earlier this year, the Charter Revision Commission convened two months before the ballot deadline and proposed five measures for approval, including one titled Cleaning Public Property, which states: “This proposal would amend the City Charter to expand and clarify the Department of Sanitation’s power to clean streets and other City property and require disposal of waste in containers.”

While the description doesn’t mention vendors, advocates see the measure as a way to crack down further. Last month, the Street Vendor Project, along with 49 other organizations, endorsed a campaign urging New Yorkers to vote against the proposal. The coalition’s press release states, “Over the past 20 years, charter commissions have taken as long as a year to fully consider changing the city’s constitution and engage as many New Yorkers and experts in the process as possible.” Kaufman-Gutierrez added: “This charter review commission was clearly rushed. It was clearly not inclusive of the public. And, that leads one to question, what’s the purpose of it?”

When asked how the measure would help keep streets clean, a spokesperson for the commission forwarded a press release stating that it would enable the Sanitation Department to expand enforcement over vendors to properties other than sidewalks and streets, such as highway medians, overpasses and parks.

The measure has garnered support from some officials. In testimony before the commission in July, Francisco Moya, a council member representing Corona, Jackson Heights, and East Elmhurst, said it would “greatly benefit districts like mine, which has a history of street vending and chronic illegal dumping on sidewalks, street corners and parks.” Sanitation Department Deputy Commissioner Joshua Goodman also testified, saying the measure would “allow for more uniformity and consistency in vendor enforcement operations throughout the city.”

Meanwhile, city and state legislators are pursuing other ways to resolve the issues.

In February, Bronx City Council Member Pierina Sanchez introduced a bill to lift the cap and increase accessibility to licenses. The bill, co-sponsored by 20 other council members, is part of a larger push to protect and expand street-vendor rights and accessibility through what the sponsors call the “Street Vendor Reform” package, containing three other bills. Over the past year, these bills have been stalled.

Separately, State Sen. Jessica Ramos is sponsoring Senate Bill S1739, which would have vending violations treated as civil rather than criminal cases. “Laws need to be enforced,” said Ramos, who represents Queens and is running for mayor. “So, my criticism of vending has been a little different than those who want to criminalize it. I think there’s just been a lack of a system.” She sees her bill as “an opportunity to create markets where the city does have a lot of vacant lots and make the best use of that space…make it a destination and let people be able to help immigrants.”

Ramos suggested that the government provide uniform carts, and “rent them out to our vendors at a price that is reasonable… so that there is a low entry point for people who are just arriving here.” That would require “what the vendors won’t like: placement, the city telling them where to vend.”

Sosa doesn’t find that prospect to be very appealing. “I wouldn’t want to be put in a cage… or a circle,” she said, referencing the placement of vendors within a marketplace at Corona Plaza, which has a fraction of the those who used to work there. Sosa would prefer expanded licensing, as it’s “a one-time fee and it’s mine.”

The Street Vendor Project’s Kaufman-Gutierrez characterized the overall situation as a government failure. “They all have the ability to issue arrests, to fine… And none of them, again, are doing anything to actually increase information, increase education, increase access to permitting.”