City Council Wrestles With Street Vending Rules

New York Times

25-06-2025

Good morning. It's Wednesday. Today we'll look at bills introduced in the City Council to improve conditions for street vendors. We'll also get details on a lawsuit challenging a partnership between the police in Nassau County and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
It was a quick question in the lightning round of the final debate among Democratic candidates for mayor: Should the city increase the number of permits for street vendors?
All seven candidates on the stage raised their hands.
But it is not a question the City Council is looking to answer anytime soon.
The Council could vote as soon as next week to decriminalize violations for street vendors and mobile food trucks, making them subject only to fines.
Another bill would lift the cap on permits for street vendors. That cap means that only a fraction of the 20,000 vendors operating in the city have official permission to sell food and merchandise. About half that number are on a waiting list. The city has issued only 15 new licenses so far this year, according to testimony at a hearing last month. A 2018 law authorized 445 new permits a year, but testimony at a City Council hearing last month indicated that only 382 vendors had gotten licenses in the three years since the law took effect.
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