Tens of thousands of prospective vendors are on a wait list for licenses which remain capped at levels that have not increased since the 1980s. Vendors want a fundamental system that gives them the opportunity to strive and provide for their families like anyone else.
Hundreds of fuming vendors assembled in Union Square on Aug. 15 brandishing banners and signs urging the City Council to finally reform the vending license system, a frequent topic of controversy in recent years.
Enforcement is not policy, said Calvin Baker, a vendor who sells his wares along Harlem's 125th Street. [Some] 20,000 people right now are on a waitlist, waiting for a path to legalization and a license that is unjust, that is broken, and that is leading to more systematic issues.
The marchers hope that change will come with the passage of the Street Vendor Reform Platform, a package of bills aimed at assisting street vendors by ensuring vendor access to business licensing; reducing criminal liability for general and mobile food vendors.
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