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We missed this original City Room post about Park Avenue fruit vendor Nurul Alam, whose upper-crust customers got worried when he disappeared from their corner in October. It turns out Alam was picked up by the immigration authorities and held in detention for three months. Luckily, as Susan Dominus updated today, those same customers helped obtain his release from jail, at least pending his next hearing. A heartwarming story, but we have to wonder, like commenters George and David, what would have happened if Alam didn’t have friends in high places? And how many other there are like him who we never hear about?
To share the stories of the 939 wonderful New Yorkers who are SVP members, we’re starting an interview series. Interview #1 is the only Eritrean vendor we’ve ever met — Tesfalum Kiflu. He happens to make really delicious food – here’s his menu. Read the interview here. And btw we’re looking for someone to help conduct these interviews. Students? Bloggers? Bored office workers?
We love peer-to-peer lending sites like Kiva and Prosper, which are creating a revolution in microfinance by linking small businesspeople seeking loans with people who have spare change to invest. But all those sites require a good credit score, which defeats the whole purpose — most of our members have no credit at all. So we sent around an email and collected $1,700 for peanut vendor Mohammed Ullah, who needs the money to renew his license. Read about this project (with video) here and let us know if you’d be willing to support a broader SVP loan fund in the future.
The last few years have brought transportation policy reform to New York City. Three hundred miles of bike lanes have been added, and part of Times Square was even turned into a pedestrian plaza. But why are street vendors absent from this discussion? Other cities recognize that vendors are an important part of making public spaces livable. In Portland, for example, this excellent report (sent by Professor Irene Tinker) concluded that “food carts have positive impacts on street vitality and neighborhood life.” This paper, out of India, found that vendors are “essential as a part of [the] transportation planning process.” Maybe somebody over at the excellent Streetsblog needs to pick up the vendor beat.
UPDATE: We just saw this — how does the City of New York write a 236-page “Street Design Manual” and mention street vendors only once, in passing (on page 65)?
Much more to report on this topic, but for now, take note! SVP will be co-presenting what (we believe) is the first-ever U.S. conference on street vendors, May 14-15, 2010 in Los Angeles. Exciting! The event will be attended by both academics and street vendor advocates & activists. For now, if you want to present your academic work, take a look at this Request for Papers. Abstracts are due January 22nd. If you need some inspiration, check out Illegibility, Uncertainty and the Management of Street Vending in New York City, and oldie but a goodie by friend-of-SVP Ryan Devlin.
Manhattan’s prim Upper East Side is perhaps the most hostile residential neighborhood in the city to street vendors. On the UES, they like their immigrant workers to serve them behind closed doors (nannies, restaurant workers) but not so much in public (vendors, restaurant delivery guys).
A few months ago the UES community board passed an anti-vendor resolution calling for more enforcement against those pesky, “proliferating” street vendors. Hey, two can play that game! So SVP passed an anti-anti-vendor resolution in response. We see your resolution and raise you a resolution. You can read it here.
Considering that the majority of New Yorkers do not own autos, its interesting to see how much influence the car lobby has been wielding lately. City Council just changed the law to give drivers a five minute grace period from $65 parking tickets (we’ll feel their pain when they get $1,000 tickets, like vendors do.) At the state level, there was an huge outcry over a $25 charge for new license plates. Poor babies!
Biswajit Dey (left) looks pretty happy in this photo, but don’t let the smile fool you. Last summer, he got 4 tickets in one day at his fruit vending stand on DeKalb Avenue in Brooklyn. He received one of them, for $300, because flies had landed on his mangoes. Are you serious? The man vends outside, where flies do occasionally fly. And sometimes they land. Until you develop a fly force field for Biswajit to use at his fruit cart, Department of Health, please stop ticketing vendors for ridiculous things like this. $300 is a lot of money for Biswajit. Here’s the actual ticket.
BTW, even if you don’t care about Biswajit, doesn’t this kind of action undermine the city’s efforts to increase the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables in NYC?
The NYC Department of Health has passed a bunch of new rules to make it harder on street food vendors — the most shocking of which is a complete ban on fish and seafood sold from carts and trucks, effective as of January 1, 2010! SVP testified against the proposal, in October 2008, but this fish ban is news to us.
A relatively small number of vendors sell fish, but this is how the Bloomberg administration gradually makes living here a less authentic, more prepackaged experienced. Luckily Zach Brooks at Midtown Lunch is all over this – maybe something can be done? Fish fry in front of the Department of Health, anyone? Please drop us a line if you are interested in working on this issue, as we are very short-staffed right now, especially during the holidays.
UPDATE: DOH now says the ban on fish and seafood was “unintentional.” Interesting. We will count this as a victory, however small, thank you very much.
Did you know that no vending license is required to sell ”coniferous trees” on the sidewalk in New York during the month of December? Its true, although you do need the permission of the adjoining property owner. According to §19-136 of the NYC Admin Code, you may also sell palm branches, myrtle branches, willow branches, and citron (presumably for sukkot) during September and October.
This law creates a wonderful Christmasy tradition, even though sometimes you have to squeeze down a path between a small forest of Douglas firs. So how about a similar licensing exemption for fruit vendors during the summer months? At least strawberries during strawberry season? Or it is only wholesome families from places like Vermont that get those kinds of breaks?
