Owners of brick-and-mortar businesses, street vendors and government officials were in rare agreement during a City Council hearing on Wednesday, with all voicing support for bills that would ban vending on bike lanes, limit vending on bridges and give vendors more flexibility in how they display their goods.
Erin Piscopink, co-chair of the NYC Business Improvement District Association, said her group also generally supports the “decriminalization of [unlicensed] street vending,” as provided for in another pending measure. Some brick-and-mortar businesses have opposed any loosening of restrictions.
But advocates for stores and vendors clashed over other bills aimed at making it easier for vendors to do business. That includes bills that would change vending location rules to allow more space from the curb, and another — notably, left off the hearing docket — bill that would remove a decades-old cap on the city’s highly coveted and limited vending licenses and permits.
The NYC Bid Association called the latter “premature at best,” saying in written testimony that stronger vending enforcement and location rules are still necessary. Councilmember Pierina Sanchez said the association’s stance “offended” her.
“A lot of work has to be done on this issue, and as we’ve seen almost close to a decade, there has been no improvements, or very little improvements, to actually expanding our permits and licensing,” said Sanchez, a Democrat from the Bronx, one of the Council leaders pushing the changes.
The exchange underscores the long-running debate over street vending in the city, with store merchants, vendors, politicians, and different-minded advocacy groups all weighing in. It comes in the midst of several high-profile crackdowns on unlicensed vendors, including in Corona Plaza, Sunset Park, and most recently, Grand Army Plaza.
Some of the bills highlighted in the public hearing were introduced last week as part of a sweeping package of bills aimed at…
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