Street Vendors Stand Up For Bathroom Rights

Matthew Shapiro

As promised, a mob of disgruntled street food vendors demonstrated outside Health Department headquarters downtown yesterday. The group believes that the DOH has started to crack down on vendors who step away from their carts to relieve themselves; last week a roasted peanut vendor in Lower Manhattan had his permit confiscated after he stepped away from his stand for a quick comfort break. At yesterday's protest, Shirajul Islam explained to the Post, "When I left my cart, I wasn't feeling too well. Then my doctor called me and said I have to have an operation to fix the problem."

Health Department officials say food vendors can leave their carts for 15 minutes, but a licensed vendor has to guard it for them. And one unidentified official clams Islam was away for a half hour. "We want them to go to the bathroom and wash their hands over the course of the day," said Dan Cass, an acting deputy health commissioner. "Our job is to ensure that the food sold by vendors and restaurant owners and others is safe."

But Sean Basinski, who works with the Urban Justice Center's Street Vendor Project, thinks the DOH is being overzealous and inconsiderate of vendors' human necessities: "As far as we know, there has never been a case of a vendor's food being contaminated while they've left to go to the toilet. I'm sure if some bad person wanted to poison the people of New York City, there'd be easier ways to do it, like going to a salad bar." Disgusting, and true!

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By John Del Signore in Food on February 24, 2010 1:33 PM

Comments [rss]

IvoryJive

There is a pretty strong security case for not allowing people to walk away from large carts and leave them abandoned on city streets in busy neighborhoods. It's more than a health issue

Polemicist

Time to ban the street vendors. I really don't know why people eat that garbage anyway. For the same price, any deli buffet will get you far more food for the money and it tastes better too. It still doesn't beat McDonald's.

Street vendors are a blight on this city.

lucy van pelt

The lady vendors are holding a sit-in for their bathroom rights

MagnoliaLineFlasher

and i always thought they were shaking lime juice on the street meat ....

hotstepper

a timeless question indeed: who watches your nuts when you go pee?

JenChungsBaby

I take my nuts with me. Maybe he should too.

Wza

No Justice, No Pee.

jza1218

Maybe they should buy/make street vendor stands that they can lock up so they can leave it unattended.

Otherwise, I don't see how the Dept of Health is that out of line for saying they shouldn't leave food unattended.

whitecastlerock

People actually buy peanuts from this vendor? What does he take home? $40-$50 a day?

JenChungsBaby

Yeah, and how's he going to afford that operation his doc supposedly told him to get to fix his "problem?" Probably no health insurance benefits for street vendors.

Kojak

Ever heard of trucker-bombs? Come on guys you need to be creative.

longacre

Most of these guys know all about truck bombs, but that's something else.

Kojak

They could store their urine in some empty Gatorade bottles, which street vendors should have loads of.

But then it would be strange to eat food from a cart which stores urine along with food and drinks they have to sell. But we don't know that they do or don't now do we? ;-)

But then again, its strange to eat food from a street vendor to begin with. (Except the Halal Cart on 53rd and 6th. MMmm)