Street Vendors Studied

The Street Vendor Project released a study, Peddling Uphill (PDF), showing the difficulties street vendors have these days, given steep fines that are handed down for small infractions. The group's director, Sean Basinski, told Metro, “Since our survey, the maximum fine has gone from $250 per ticket to $1,000. That’s $1,000 for a sixth offense within two years. A first fine is just $50, but the second citationdoubles to $100. The third climbs to $250, the fourth is $500, and a fifth fetches $750. “We know the average vendor collects at least that many within a year, so maybe 20 percent of vendors’ incomes will go to tickets every year.”

Here are some quotes related to the story:

"It's a battle every day. They give you a ticket if you are 20 feet from a storefront. They give you a ticket if you are 20 feet from the crosswalk. Where are we supposed to go?" - Vendor Cornell Sims (Daily News)

"I moved as soon as the police told me to move, but still got a ticket. It seems they are looking for any reason to ticket us. I came to this country to find the American Dream. Instead I got a red ticket."- Vendor Grace Zhang, who had waited under an awning during a rainstorm (AMNY)

"If you drive past a red light, it's an offense where you could kill someone, yet you don't pay more than $200." - Vendor Moustapha Cisse (NY Post)

“I guess first and foremost I’d say, ‘Don’t break the law and then you won’t have that problem.’” - Mayor Bloomberg (NY Times)

The Street Vendor Project suggests that 1) fines be reduced; 2) caps on licenses and permits for street vendors be raised; 3) more public space should be accessible; 4) improve police knowledge about vendor laws; and 5) provide translators for the vendors, which would help during police and court situations.

If you don't get to read the report itself, the NY Times article looks at the statistics from the study, like ethnic make-up, what vendors sell, and why they are vendors.

Photograph from Michael Brandon on Flickr

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on October 4, 2006 4:48 PM

Comments [rss]

i fought the law and the law w

Hey if it's the law, it MUST be right! Hey, it's a LAW for gods sake.

Some laws

It is against the law to throw a ball at someone's head for fun.

The penalty for jumping off a building is death.

A person may not walk around on Sundays with an ice cream cone in his/her pocket.

While riding in an elevator, one must talk to no one, and fold his hands while looking toward the door.

Slippers are not to be worn after 10:00 P.M.

During a concert, it is illegal to eat peanuts and walk backwards on the sidewalks.

You may not smoke within 100 feet of the entrance to a public building.

Women may go topless in public, providing it is not being used as a business.

You may only water your lawn if the hose is held in your hand

It is illegal for a father to call his son a "faggot" or "queer" in an effort to curb "girlie behavior."

fishtale

oh no! look at the street vendors! without translators they are being opressed by the system! quick, aclu, find some lawyers for these linguistically downtrodden non-citizens!

GT

OBEY. It's the (new) American way.

sky

"more public space should be accessible"

Only if fewer tourist are let into town.

the people

LOWER RENTS - LOWER TAXES - RELAX THE LAWS !!!

bloomy

PAY RENT - PAY TAXES - OBEY THE LAW

chick pea

You like that falafel? don't you?

More white sauce?

anonymass

Actually, Mr. Kreem, don't like getting fined? Don't break the law (just as the mayor admonished).

Also, don't hold your precious breath for those translators. Obviously you can't read or you'd know that having translators onsite was a recommendation from The Street Vendor Project. Not gonna happen. Get back to your cart, street meat boy.

poopoo_face

I agree with the fines especially in Chinatown. While they are at it they should impose the same if not more serious fines for the fish markets that take valuable sidewalk space in crowded Chinatown, which also stink up the neighborhood with fish guts, not to mention, contributing to general insanitary conidtions of the area.

Dave H.

Alright, this is gonna seem weird and slightly off-topic and juvenile, but I have to recommend the kids novel The Pushcart Wars, by Jean Merrill. I read it 20 years ago and remember it as very entertaining. Reading the descriptions on amazon.com, it all seems pretty germane. After a flower seller is run down by a truck on the LES, puschart merchants start a guerilla campaign against vehicles with peashooters and tire-puncturing pins. Truckers and the city government conspire to put the pushcart merchants out of business. Damn, I gotta go back and re-read that myself!

Jen

Well, if there are translators available to mediate other kinds of police disputes, why not this also? And it would be worth it to have translators on hand, so issues could be resolved more effectively before matters need to go to the court.

And while some vendors do not know English, I'd imagine many of them who are more than competent would appreciate help in understanding what the police are saying and in articulating their own positions. Having open communication would be a big accomplishment.

mr. kreem

Where did it say they refuse to learn English?

don't like it? too bad, anonymass.

I hope the next vendor spits in your food.

and, you'll never know, even though you think you know. so just don't eat out from now on.