The Street Vendor Project

One fine day

Sean Basinski — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 08:00:03 +0000

It feels like we’ve been fighting for a lifetime. But the end might be in sight. Today the City Council will hold a hearing on the two bills we have been working on for nearly 18 months — Intros 434 and 435 — to lower the $1,000 fines vendors still pay for minor violations. It will be a good excuse to release the new report done by John Davis and Alfonso Morales from the University of Wisconsin – Fining The Hand that Feeds You. The report shows that lowering fines will put more money in the City’s pockets, too! And if you are not the reading type, just go and watch this gorgeous new video by Samuel Enblom.

SVP Turns 10!

jack — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 14:57:51 +0000

SVP was started ten years ago, not long after 9/11, when vendors were being kept from returning to work downtown, until we changed that. In the last decade, we’ve won lawsuits, held rallies, issued reports, given awards, and changed the way people think about street vendors, in New York and beyond. We’ve also built a community of 1,300 vendors who are together providing a voice to demand dignity, opportunity, and respect.

Last week, we got together with a few hundred of our closest friends at Judson Church in the West Village. Thanks to Dana, Lizzy, and the whole team of volunteers who planned the event. And, of course, everyone who came out to celebrate. We raised nearly $10,000 to support our work – a thousand bucks for each year we’ve been open. Don’t wait for next year, view some photos from the event here.

Vendors = beautiful

Sean Basinski — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 23:02:10 +0000

Its not easy fighting for the 99% when you’ve got the one-percenters like Dan Biederman lobbying against you. Biederman, head of the 34th Street Partnership, takes home $500K a year and lives in Chappaqua. He claims to know what New York should look like, but he’s best known for his privatization of public spaces like Bryant Park over the years.

Last week he launched an unprovoked attack against vendors on the front page of AM New York, calling vendors “bad citizens” and “slobs.” You’ve got a right to your opinion, Biederman. But you won’t insult a whole population of people in this city without a response from us. We are New York. And you? Not so much. Our board wrote a letter demanding an apology last week. And then, with no response, we camped out in front of Biedernman’s office for a press conference today. Thanks to El Diario for covering it. And we’re just getting started with you, Biederman! You’ll be hearing from us!

City Hall rally

Sean Basinski — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 23:18:15 +0000

Getting a law changed at City Hall requires lots of closed-door meetings. But you also need to mobilize your grassroots, show yourself to be a powerful constituency, and keep your issue in the press. All that is why SVP, VAMOS Unidos and the 125th Street Merchants Association held a rally last week at City Hall to demand a hearing on Intros 434 and 435. A more rainy, ugly day we never did see. Our beautiful signs all got soaked. But more than 400 vendors were joined by five Council Members and tons of media outlets, like the Times, Daily News , Post, and WNYC. The message was simple : we need to lower the $1,000 fines now !

Photo courtesy William Alatriste

jack — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:26:38 +0000

Watch SVP member Monica Lee fight for a spot in Noho

Pushcart Fund

Sean Basinski — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 20:15:29 +0000

Two years ago, we realized that vendors don’t just need legal advice, training, and a voice at City Hall. Sometimes they also need loans to expand their businesses — or simply maintain them in the face of high fines and harsh economic times. We raised $1,700 to help Mohammed Ullah stay in business.

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?

Vendors’ Day

Sean Basinski — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:28:38 +0000

Politicians all love to wave flags and march in parades on Veterans Day, which was last week. But when it comes to supporting bills to help veteran street vendors (like Intros 434 and 435) our friends at City Hall sometimes are not so patriotic.

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.

Occupy SVP

Sean Basinski — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:11:07 +0000

Not only is Zuccotti Park, the headquarters of Occupy Wall Street, just a few blocks from SVP’s office in Lower Manhattan. Its also very close to our heart. As protypical members of the 99%, street vendors are oppressed by wealthy elites who are “uncomfortable” with their presence, and yet who have the ear of policy-makers like our Mayor. Though vendors don’t have time to sleep in the park (and though some are sadly losing business,) SVP members are squarely on board OWS’s main goal: economic fairness. After our general meeting last week, vendors grabbed our banner and marched over to Zuccotti Park to perform our traditional “vendor power” cheer, to the delight of the OWS crowd. We are now participating in OWS working groups to help plan future events, while looking for other ways to collaborate with this historic movement.

Space for vendors, too!

Sean Basinski — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 02:26:07 +0000

There are a whole lot of urban planners, thinkers and writers who care about public space and how its used. In New York, the Department of Transportation has won rave reviews the last few years for creating people-friendly public spaces, with bike lanes and plazas. But rarely do urban planners plan for street vendors. Luckily that is changing. Columbia University’s Urban Planning program spent a whole semester, with our help, studying vendors and preparing an in-depth report (downloadable here) about how the vending rules could be reformed to benefit the public. And last week, as part of Urban Design Week, we co-sponsored a public-space picnic (with Columbia and the Design Trust for Public Space) to demonstrate how legalizing vendors could enliven many desolate plazas, if only there were allowed to work there. Imagine that. Pictures here.

A message to City Council

Sean Basinski — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 17:08:06 +0000

Our campaign to get rid of the $1,000 vending tickets, aka Intros 434 and 435 is going well, and a majority of City Council Members are now co-sponsors of both bills. But a few Council Members are hesitant to get on board without more knowledge. Which we fully respect. That is why we’ve been spending time in working-class Jamaica, Queens, talking to Council Member Leroy Comrie, the Deputy Majority Leader and his consituents. If videos like this don’t convince him, we don’t know what will.