"The issue of illegal street vendors in the Big Apple dates back years, and the NYPD has occasionally raided dealers peddling counterfeit goods. Yet in Chinatown last week, ICE exploited the regularity of the problem to advance its ruthless crackdown, and it is not unfair to say that the operation might not have happened had City Hall done more to stop illegal vending."
"City Hall has struggled to change the status quo. An annual street vendor permit cap, which has been in existence for decades, shuts out hundreds of applicants every year. Many of the denied go on to sell without a permit anyway; others spend tens of thousands of dollars in agreements with permit-holders to rent their license, for which the city charges the applicant just $200."
"The City Council overrode Mayor Eric Adams' veto earlier this year of a legislative package aimed at better protecting street vendors from criminal prosecution and reforming wages. The laws, however, do little to protect vendors from potential deportation by the federal government, and reforming wages does not address the greater problem of unpermitted vending in Chinatown, in Ridgewood's Myrtle-Wyckoff Avenues Plaza, and other hubs across the city."
ICE detained a street vendor along Canal Street during an enforcement action in Chinatown that capitalized on recurring unpermitted vending. The federal role should focus on stopping counterfeit goods entering the United States rather than rounding up city street vendors. New York City controls street vendor regulation through permits and enforcement. A decades-old annual permit cap excludes hundreds, prompting unpermitted sales and expensive informal license rentals while the city charges only $200 for permit transfers. Recent municipal legislation enhanced vendor protections and wage reforms but does not prevent federal deportation actions or resolve competition with brick-and-mortar businesses.
Read at www.amny.com
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