Street Vendor Project

The ultimate sacrifice

While there are only (!) about ten thousand street vendors in New York City, there are millions around the world. SVP plays a role in the worldwide vendors' movement through our proud affiliation with StreetNet International. And we don't stop there. Last week, we held a vigil at City Hall to honor Mohamed Bouazizi, the Tunisian fruit vendor...

What justice?

$1,000 tickets for licensed street vendors are unduly harsh under any circumstance. But especially when the system under which they are heard is so much of a kangaroo court. This tape, of an ECB hearing for Mohammed Shafiqul Huda (left), shows what kind of travesty of justice can occur. What are the problems here, apart from the general rude treatment...

Taco struggles

Sometimes the struggles of one person (indeed, one street vendor) reverberate through a whole community. Something like Mohamed Bouazizi, but on a smaller scale, is the struggle of Patricia Monroy and her son Alberto Loera (left). Their taco truck has been a much-loved source of cheap and delicious food on East 86th and Lex for almost...

Help us lower the fines !

The easiest example of the system being unfairly stacked against NYC street vendors is this: vending fines for the most minor violations (like having a cooler poking out from underneath your cart or placing your table more than 18 inches from the curb) can cost up to $1,000. While no senior executives...

Incubate this!

New York City, with a mayor who got his start as an entrepreneur, likes to say it supports small businesses. The City's Economic Development Corporation is even spending $1 million to open "business incubators," in all five boroughs, to encourage the "next Google." Sounds exciting! At the same time, however, the City is doing nothing to save the...

Good report, bad coverage

The much-ballyhooed report released by the NYC Budget Office on Tuesday was …. basically correct. Its findings? That NYC vending regulations are convoluted and enforced in an inconsistent manner. Correct! That vendors do pay their taxes (or, at least, there's no evidence that they don’t). Correct! That the city wastes a lot of...

Same difference

Proposals to tighten health code standards for carts and trucks in LA has got some people wondering whether street food vendors should be held to the same health standards as restaurants. Well, guess what? In New York, they already are! While letter grades have yet to happen here (they’ve been...

Another great Vendys

No matter how great the Vendy Awards go each year, they just keep getting better! Last Saturday, more than 1,400 people came out to Governor's Island for our Sixth Annual event. Gorgeous weather, eighteen vendors from three categories -- you can't make this stuff up. And it was a story-book...

A natural progression (congrats to Cheikh)

Last year, New York opened its first city-funded business incubator, with plans to spend a million dollars opening offices in all five boroughs. But the street is a natural incubator – just ask Richard Sears, who got his start as a peddler. Who’s next? Maybe SVP board member Cheikh Fall, who after...