Politics
A Push to Help Street Vendors ‘Leave the Shadows’
Legislation before the City Council would change regulations to make it easier for vendors to operate legally.
Good morning. It’s Friday. Today we’ll look at a push by street vendors to change city permitting regulations that they say keep them from operating legally. We’ll also get details on a move by the City Council speaker in advance of a potential campaign against Mayor Eric Adams.
Credit…Shuran Huang for The New York Times
Thousands of street vendors in New York City — people who sell food or merchandise from sidewalk carts or tables — do not have city-issued permits. Many of them are undocumented immigrants and worry summonses for operating without licenses would leave them vulnerable amid the Trump administration’s mass deportation effort.
A package of bills before the City Council would change that dilemma. The bills would help vendors operate legally and protect them against deportation. At a rally outside City Hall on Thursday, vendors and lawmakers called on the Council to pass the bills quickly. My colleague Alyce McFadden explains:
There are far more street vendors than permits. The number of permits issued by the city has been capped since the 1980s. In 2023 there were about 5,100 mobile food vending permits in circulation. The cap means many vendors are forced to rent permits, sometimes for tens of thousands of dollars, even though leasing permits is not legal. But the alternative — operating a food cart without a permit — can mean risking fines and criminal summonses.
Thousands of street vendors are given tickets every year, and the rate of enforcement has been going up, according to the Street Vendor Project at the Urban Justice Center, a nonprofit group that assists vendors. Last year, more than 2,000 criminal summonses were issued to vendors, according to data compiled by the group — a significant increase from 2023.
Since President Trump returned to the White House last month, federal immigration agencies have targeted undocumented immigrants with criminal records in New York City and across the country. Mayor Eric Adams has cooperated with federal immigration authorities, meeting twice with Trump’s “border czar” and agreeing to let federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement set foot on Rikers Island, a major departure from the city’s sanctuary policies.
