Progressive New York City leaders have championed an effort to ease the burdens on thousands of street vendors who can’t get legal permits. The city council voted for a new law creating more permits in January, but Mayor Bill de Blasio has yet to sign it.
Unauthorized street vendors, typically women, people of color or immigrants, face fines and other legal hassles. Some pay large sums to “sublet” valid permits. Opponents of a higher cap say it could hurt competing small brick-and-mortar businesses, many of which are also minority- or immigrant-owned, as they try to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
The issue flared up during the campaign to succeed de Blasio, when Democratic primary candidate Andrew Yang called for more stringent enforcement of vending rules. Yang later clarified he supported granting more permits, along with education for vendors and efforts to “broker tensions.”