NYC Street Vendors Rally In Manhattan, Call For New Permit Process

NEW YORK CITY — Over 600 hundred street vendors marched from Union Square to City Hall on Thursday in an effort to get a set of bills passed that would make it easier for people to obtain a license to become a legal vendor in the city.

"Street Vendor Reform" package of bills aims to provide a regulated, predictable, enforceable system for these local businesses.

The package of legislation would ensure vendor access to business licensing, reduce criminal liability for general and mobile food vendors, create a division of street vendor assistance within NYC small business services and reform public siting.

"Street Vendor Reform" would build on Local Law 18 passed in 2021, which at the time set out to gradually add about 4,450 new mobile food vendors permits over a ten-year period.

“Enforcement isn’t policy. Street vendors are fed up with a system that denies them new licenses, forces vendors to guess the rules that govern their business, and punishes them with harsh, arbitrary enforcement when they guess wrong,” said Mohamed Attia, Managing Director of the Street Vendor Project at the Urban Justice Center. “The ‘Street Vendor Reform’ legislative package will provide order for street vending. We’re calling on the City Council to take action now.”

Currently, there are nearly 20,000 street vendors in New York City, officials said.

The New York City Independent Budget Office said the city could gain billions in revenue if they pass the legislation and continue to allow access to business licenses.

"Let us stop arbitrarily capping licenses and move toward a system that opens access to licenses to all, and properly incentivizes and enforces compliance. I thank the Street Vendor Project and the entire Street Vendor Coalition for their diligent work in addressing the inequities that our vendors have faced in New York City," Council Member Pierina Sanchez said.