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Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer wants police to crack down on the dozens of vendors at Ground Zero. NY1 reports that in spite of a "2004 state law prohibit[ing] vendors from working the area bordered by Broadway on the east, West Street on the west, Liberty Street on the south side, and Vesey Street on the north," vendors still set up and sell various wares, including many 9/11-related items (like "Tragedy," the photo pamphlet memento!). Stringer said, "We don't think this should be a three-ring circus where profiteers are cashing in on one of the worst tragedy to befall the United States of America," but one vendor reasoned, "When tourists come, they provide us with their money that we use to distribute into this economy."
Stringer Wants Ground Zero Vendors Out
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When I'm on a downtown 1, 2 or 3 train--or if I'm in Tribeca--and someone asks me where Ground Zero is, I tell them to a) look for the void in the sky and b) look for the vendors selling 9/11 stuff.
agreed, there shall be no a three-ring circus where profiteers are cashing in on one of the worst tragedies to befall the United States of America. Lets leave all the cashing-in and profiteering to politicians and developers.
I remember seeing these vultures hawking their grisly souvenirs less than two weeks after the attacks. Also, the sidewalks are cluttered enough with all the construction going on down there; do we really need counterfeit handbags so badly that a half dozen vendors need to clog our pathways at once?
That said, maybe some limited vending licenses for the area can be given to legitimate Sept. 11 charities. Since the government doesn't seem interested in helping first responders and local residents affected with health problems, maybe we can turn these tacky tourists to our advantage in this respect.
I must be oblivious to this stuff
between this and the $1 sweaters, the falafel cart, the outdated datebooks, the fake colognes, this gets mixed in.
it's only on the weekends when you see the tourist vultures doing their thing.
maybe we should move both the WTC memorial and Century twenty one to governor's island. one stop gawking and shopping.
Ever since my office moved down there 2 yrs ago, I've had to walk by these vendors and it's always made me uncomfortable and a bit angry. But I get most annoyed at the tourists who buy these things. Did you not see enough photos of buildings blowing up and falling that you have to buy the souvenir book to get the full impact? I cut them off from the vendors at every opportunity I get.
Jen, my usual answer is, "Are you sure you want to go? There's nothing to see there, it's a big construction site with blue tarps and Port-a-potties."
I also enjoy the looks on tourists' faces when I see them posing for family photos on front of the fence and I walk by and shout "WHY ARE YOU SMILING?!"
Usually I like tourists. I'm always happy to give them directions, or steer them away from tourist traps and towards more interesting businesses that could use their support. But I do not like it when people treat the WTC site like Disney World. Really, when they bring their bootleg DVDs and fake handbags home, do they say "I bought this at Ground Zero"?
I definitely agree with Polite New Yorker: a couple of legitimate charities putting faces on 9/11 victims and those who continue to suffer from health problems would provide a much-needed reality check at the site.
Ah yes, profiting from 9/11 is immoral, nobody should do it...unless your name is Larry Silverstein.
Plus, did you know that most of those vendors are actually Vietnam war veterans?
Ahhh, not so simple anymore is it?
There was a great scene in the pilot episode of Rescue Me when Denis Leary's Tommy Gavin character goes apeshit on a vendor down there and overturns the table.
breaknight, I'm pretty sure that the 40-something Latina woman speaking broken English who tried to get me to buy a bootleg DVD of Lost down by Ground Zero was not a Vietnam vet.
Many drug dealers are also Vietnam vets. Does that excuse drug dealing? Vets should be getting free help and support, not a free pass to engage in illegal activity, which includes a significant portion of "street vending" activities like the sale of bootlegs. And yeah, Larry Silverstein is a jerk, but that doesn't erase the disgust I feel when I see people selling tacky souvenir books of images of death and destruction to people who feel sentimental and patriotic for buying them, nor does it excuse the sale of illegal products like fake handbags (which are often linked to organized crime, particularly in Chinatown).
This is the resting place of my murdered brothers and sisters and you street vendors have made it into a den of thieves.
-A tribute to the only section in the Bible where Jesus goes postal.
At least they aren't selling "commemorative boxcutters"...yet.