The NYC Department of Transportation’s new Citibike bike share program evicted five SVP members from their spot on Liberty Street, with no prior notice. We organized those vendors, and other SVP members, to come speak out against this abuse. The event was well covered by Gothamist, El Diario, WBAI, WCBS and others.
To put pressure on Speaker Quinn, we launched an outdoor advertising campaign, using vending carts as billboards. These stickers will be seen by millions of New Yorkers. Our goal is to have them on 1,000 carts by end of 2012 and 5,000 by spring. Read the coverage we got on Gothamist, Midtown Lunch, and in Metro and El Diario.
Pretty much the whole SVP family came together at Judson Church in March to celebrate 10 years of community-building and look forward to 10 more! Thanks to everyone who supported!
SVP members got fed up waiting for more than a year for a hearing on the two bills to lower the fines. So we did a press conference at City Hall with other vendor groups and supportive City Council Members. Coverage here.
We did the first-ever Philadelphia Vendy Awards in July. In case you weren’t counting, that would make New York, LA and Philadelphia. Congrats and thanks to everyone on a great event. Here’s a partial recap.
On March 8, 2011, SVP members held a vigil to remember Mohamed Bouazizi, the Tunisian street vendor whose martyrdom started a revolution in his own country and around the world. The Daily News covered the vigil here.
In June, 2010, SVP hosted our first-ever street fair, which we called the Pushcart Market. It was run by and for SVP members, and unlike any of the countless corporate-run fairs in NYC each summer. Crains wrote about it here.
In May, 2010, SVP celebrated our merger with Esperanza Del Barrio with a Cinco de Mayo party in the East Village. We gave an service award to Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito for all her support for vendors and other working people. We also recognized Alioune Niass, one of the vendors who discovered the Times Square bomber.
