Not every street vendor is a racist bigot who doesn't wash their hands and sleeps in their carts. And to prove it, a 21-year-old pushcart vendor who works his father's coffee and donuts cart did an AMA question-and-answer on Reddit this weekend. more ›

The popular weekend market Brooklyn Flea has not exactly endeared itself to all of Fort Greene's residents. Now, even though it only operates in the neighborhood on Saturdays (it's in Williamsburg on Sundays), some car owners are upset yet again with the bustling antique, clothes and food activity, because Flea has asked the city to reserve a loading zone for them...and that would take away precious free parking spaces! more ›

After winning the lease to Tavern on the Green in Central Park, the restaurant's would-be owner walked away the project when a dispute with the union proved irreconcilable. The restaurant, located in a former sheepfold, has been empty since January, when the previous owner was forced out by the Bloomberg administration at the end of last year. It's no great loss considering the mediocre, overpriced food, but it is a waste of a beautiful space. So as the city considers new proposals, it's bringing in a variety of food vendors to work Tavern's outdoor terrace, facing the Sheep Meadow. more ›

When asked about new rules that would limit art vendors and food trucks around crowded city parks, Mayor Bloomberg seemed to have one enemy in mind: the beloved/infuriating Mr. Softee. Fran from Queens called into the Mayor's radio show this week, complaining of the incessant jingle blaring on her street until as late as 10 p.m. He told her, "We're going to go after and explain the law to this Mr. Softee." It's on. more ›

The DOE has been faced with an ever-worsening budget crisis this year, one that has already forced them to cut busing for 7th and 8th graders and free school lunches, and may ultimately result in thousands of teacher layoffs. Even with Schools Chancellor Joel Klein's announcement that all schools would take an average 4% cut, the Post notes that the number of employees in the school system earning $150,000 or more surged by 25 percent this year. And a Daily News investigative report this past weekend found out that groups of teachers from Brooklyn high schools were going on all-expense paid retreats in the midst of this crisis. more ›

Today the White House confirmed that President Obama placed congratulatory phone calls to the two street vendors who first reported the suspicious vehicle packed with explosives in Times Square Saturday. Obama also rang the mounted police officer and his partner who immediately started the evacuation. At press time, we're still waiting for Obama to call some of the websites who first informed the public about the incident. more ›

The Street Vendor Project at the Urban Justice Center surveyed folks in Union Square and Central Park on Monday, and they report back that 94 of 100 wanted artists to stay. Artists are, of course, staying—but under the new proposed regulations they would be cut down significantly in certain city parks. They compiled this video, where locals praise the art community in city parks, and wonder how anyone could possibly find it difficult to navigate around the vendors that are set up there. more ›

Under new rules proposed by the Bloomberg administration, many street vendors will be banished from their usual perches. On Friday the Parks Department held a hearing on the proposal, which would cut the number of vendors in city parks by 75 percent. The rules would affect vendors wishing to peddle their goods in parts of Central Park, Union Square Park, Battery Park and the High Line—where there were some issues with artists late last year. While currently there is no limit, under the new regulations Central Park would be allowed 49 artist slots, Battery Park would allow 9, Union Square would allow 18, and the High Line just 5. more ›

Have the NYPD raised a SkyWatch over Canal Street to curb the alleged "spike in crime" in the area, or are they cracking down on illegal vendors and counterfeiters again? more ›

Some food-cart vendors are serving up lunch specials with a hearty helping of identity theft. The NY Post reports the city's Department of Investigation is looking into widespread illegal renewal of food-cart permits by scammers who assume the identities of former food-cart operators. These permits—many of which belong to dead or emigrated vendors—are then renewed and resold for absurd premiums on the black market. Post reporters found some cart permits going for as much as $46,000, sold by a broker demanding, "Everything is in cash. Paid in full." Beyond the whole identity theft thing, of course, the scam also makes it harder for legitimate vendors to obtain permits, which, like taxi medallions, are issued in limited numbers. One Manhattan food-cart operator blames the way permit applications are handled for allowing these cheaters to prosper. Because permits can be renewed by mail, he says the scam becomes "an easy thing to get away with." more ›

Earlier this year we heard a horrible rumor that the Yard in Gowanus may have been shut down, but thankfully that was just a rumor. The outdoor space, located right on the polluted canal and host to a summer-long series of events, is back and better than ever. Grub Street reports that there's been a slight, inexplicable name change to BKLYN Yard (but no one will actually call it that), and that this season will launch with an event called Parked that brings food trucks (like Pizza Moto, the Community Juice Truck and Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream) to the space. Bring your appetite on May 23rd for that one! Red Hook vendor Margarita will also return with her huaraches later this summer, and other events include musical performances and a community swap meet. And let's not forget that the Yard always provides fresh fish heads for the courageous foodie on a budget. more ›

Last year the police were hassling the art vendors in SoHo, something documented by Robert Lederman, president of A.R.T.I.S.T. (Artists’ Response to Illegal State Tactics). Around the same time, word of an Alan Gerson-proposed bill to "deal with the problem" was getting out, and now the City Council proposal has arrived, leaving the artists on the defense. more ›

This weekend marks the end of a turbulent season for the Latin food vendors at the Red Hook ball fields. First the Health Department shut them down entirely, then the Parks Department opened up the vending contracts to outside competition. After considerable public outcry, the beloved vendors were allowed to return, but only after spending close to $50,000 each to purchase new stands. What used to be a festive cluster of open-air grills was turned into a homogeneous row of food carts moved outside the park, powered by loud generators. In short, the city sucked the soul out of scene. Marcos Lainez, who sells Salvadoran food, tells the Brooklyn Paper, "We lost that friendly relationship with the customers and it will never come back." And organizer Cesar Fuentes says the vendors also lost money; because they weren't permitted back until July, none of them "were fully able to recuperate from the financial blow of the season." more ›

You'll probably want to avoid eating dinner during tomorrow night's episode of Inside Edition, which promises some pretty revolting video of street vendors doing all sorts of unsavory things with their hands while on the job. According to the press release, the show's "Investigative Unit" caught a number of New York food vendors on tape exhibiting some "unsafe food handling practices." These include:
• One food vendor touching his bare feet with his fingers between his toes before going right back to serving customers.
• Another vendor near Times Square, who while wearing gloves picked his nose, handled money, scratched himself and touched raw chicken right before preparing food and serving customers.
• A vendor outside the Museum of Natural History who licked his gloved hand and counted money. Then he left his cart to use a bathroom in the museum and returned to serve customers without washing his hands.

Yesterday’s notice about the long-overdue return of the Red Hook ball field food vendors elicited comments from disgruntled eaters who were disappointed by the new carts, which limit the vendors’ cooking space and caused massive, hour-plus lines. Commenter sofabait seems to reflect a growing consensus that the new Health Department oversight has changed things for the worse: “The exhaust fumes from their constantly idling trucks totally killed my appetite. Not sure if that is better for our health. The city sure knows how to fuck a good thing up.” more ›

As promised, the beloved Latin food vendors returned to the Red Hook soccer fields this weekend, over a month and a half later than usual. After nearly getting evicted from the park last year, the vendors had to spend thousands of dollars to buy new carts and other equipment to meet the Health Department’s requirements. According to Eater, Cesar Fuentes, leader of the vendors association, called the DOH-mandated changes "a financial and emotional burden… [But] the higher cost would have been to lose the permit, and the tradition...and that we couldn't afford." more ›

The Red Hook Latin street food vendors will finally be returning to the ball fields this weekend after a three month delay that has left some of the 13 merchants drowning in debt. The Brooklyn Paper has it that some have spent over $35,000 to purchase new stands and satisfy Health Department inspectors, who threatened to shut the vendors down last year until a huge public outcry forced the city to reconsider. But was it a Pyrrhic victory? “The losses are major,” said Marcos Lainez, who runs a Salvadoran papusa cart. “It’s going to take at least two and a half years to recover all the money we have lost.” more ›

The Brooklyn community board that covers Bay Ridge is fed up with the food vendors who clog 86th Street – all three of them. “The issue is cleanliness,” asserts the board’s District Manager Josephine Beckmann, whose husband is a police lieutenant. “It would be best to have no vending at all. It just causes problems.” So the board has unanimously urged the city’s Department of Small Business Services to banish them from the block. more ›

The folks at Porkchop Express have an informative Q&A session with Cesar Fuentes, the Executive Director of the Red Hook Food Vendors Committee. As enthusiasts await the opening of the new ballfield stands, the good news is that all the same vendors will be returning with their Latin culinary delights. The bad news is that not all of them may get it together in time to return for this season, and the new operating costs for each vendor may ultimately prove prohibitively high for some. Fuentes clears up a few other things in the interview:
• The food tents and the unique 'mercado' feel are a thing of the past, to be replaced by city-mandated mobile food vending trucks.
• Fuentes has "heard some convincing arguments" that race played a role in the city's crackdown after 34 years of operation, but says the word 'gentrification' sums the situation up nicely.
• The vendors might expand their days and months of operation because the new permits are valid year-round.
• Because of the new IKEA, the baseball field food vendors were prohibited from selling in Field #9, across from the store, for this season.

Over the weekend, hungry visitors to the Red Hook ball fields were disappointed to find that the famous Latin American food vendors were nowhere to be found. Back in March the Parks Department bent to considerable public outcry and dropped its threat to evict the longstanding vendors, instead granting them a six-year permit. more ›

After widespread outrage that the city Parks Department might end more than three decades of Latin American cuisine dished out during weekend soccer games in Red Hook, it was announced yesterday that the longtime vendors have been granted a six year permit. In the end, they were the only group to apply. Last summer the Department of Health cracked down on the vendors for health violations, and it was feared that the vendors would be priced out of the park by new licensing fees. more ›

Photo: Food of the Future more ›