Photo courtesy William Alatriste

But SVP has neither the capacity nor experience to keep raising and providing one-off loans on our own. We’ve teamed up with an experienced microfinance provider, the Business Center for New Americans, and today we are announcing the Pushcart Fund, the first ever dedicated loan fund for street vendors.

We are trying to raise $10,000, which will enable us to meet our goal, close the fund, and start giving loans to worthy people like Camille (above). Please check out our loan page and watch our two-minute video here. Will you help?

There are nearly 2,000 US military veterans working on the streets of New York City, all thanks to a 1894 state law recognizing that those who defend our country should at least get to put a 6-foot table on the public sidewalk. News flash: many vets are losing their livelihoods due to $1,000 tickets imposed by the Bloomberg administration. Maybe every Council Member not supporting the bills should have to tell SVP board member Bernard Haynes (pictured here, from his days in Korea) why the $1,000 tickets he got for vending on a subway grate are fair compensation for his heroic service.

While the City rightly supports markets like at Union Square, it gave nearly 2,000 tickets to vendors at Forsyth Street Market the past two years, in addition to arrests, confiscation of produce, seizures of carts and equipment, and illegal parking restrictions. Why the unequal treatment? Unlike at Union Square,  the immigrants who work and shop at Forsyth Street – 94% of them Asian-American — have no voice.  Hopefully our new report, “Spoiled” will help change that, if even a little bit.

Since no vendor has any legal claim to any particular spot, its all about respect. Its one thing to encourage vendors to respect each other’s spots, but what do you do when someone doesn’t listen? Last week, a group of SVP members (left) paid a visit to a supposed bad-apple vendor, to encourage him to keep a respectful distance from vendors who had spent years building up their spots. And you know what? He turned out to be a pretty nice guy. Here’s to all vendors working together in peace!

There will never be a lack of brick-and-mortar businesses complaining about “unfair competition” from street vendors. Whether its Korean green grocers in the outer boroughs or Business Improvement Districts in Washington Heights, store-based merchants love to use their power against their less-developed neighbors selling from tables, carts or trucks.

But you know what? We’re sick of it. They can make any claim they want, but every bit of research shows that vendors do not compete with brick-and-mortar merchants. From now on, any journalist that presents the tired, “store owners said this, vendors said that” story without citing the available research on the matter is not doing their job. So, here it is: scholarly proof that vendors do not compete with brick-and-mortar merchants. The vendors rest. Thank you.