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My name is Sean Basinski and I'm the director of the Street Vendor Project here at the Urban
Justice Center The mindset is that vendors are a problem,
that they're a nuisance, that they're an issue, that they're negatively effecting
peoples quality of life Of course we think just the opposite, that
they're a resource and have a positive effect on the people that live here and visit here,
but the police department thinks that they are a problem
I sold burritos on 52th street and Park Avenue the summer before law school
So you know that was the summer that Giuliani tried to close down 150-some blocks to vendors
At the street vendor project we represent an organized street vendors here in NYC
Vendors are mostly immigrants from many different countries, really from all over the world
We also have a population of native born folks who are US military veterans
But be they immigrants or veterans they are almost all people of color
Mostly men but some women too They sell food and merchandise on our streets
from tables from carts or trucks There's about 10 or 15 thousand of these
people who survive this way in New York City everyday
Just an amazing amount of enforcement that's directed at street vendors in NYC
Most of it is done by the police Many vendors come here once a month with tickets
or other problems that they've received and So being a street vendor here in NYC you
will receive very frequent visits from the police
No matter where you are some places are worse than others
We can start with the arrests because that's certainly the most serious thing that happens
to vendors About 7,000 vendors are arrested every year
here in New York City Usually they are arrested for the crime, the
crime of unlicensed vending Of course the only reason vendors vend without
licenses is because the city won't give them licenses, there's 15 or 20 year waiting
list And so people would love have licenses and
they just cant get them Its not just arrest thought
There's also about 40,000 tickets written to vendors here every year
Sometimes through the criminal court the summons part is sometimes for an unusual tribunal
called the ECB, Environmental Control Board The tickets are for all kinds of low things
there's many many rules that apply to vendors Having to do with their business of where
they are for example they have to be 15 feet away from cross walk, 20 feet away from any
building entrance You have to visibly display your license, and
so if you have it in your pocket because you forgot to take it out that day, for whatever
reason, that's a violation If you're a food vendor and you have boxes
or a cooler that's next to your cart Not actually in or under the cart
If your not displaying your prices If your vending at a bus top
On the wrong street You get the idea there's a million little
things and even though the seem maybe to you and to me to be minor
The ticketing is just really pervasive and you won't get very far
Especially in some neighborhoods if your violating any of these rules
The police will come and give you a ticket for it
The penalties for these tickets are very severe In fact they can be as high as $1000 for one
ticket So everyday we have vendors come into our
offices because they've gotten tickets It's just a daily occurrence
Often ironically enough interestingly enough, vendors are able to help the police because
they're out there everyday they know what's going on on the street
And so of course you have the famous case of the time square bomber who was spotted
by as street vendor, but even more recently we had a guy that was talking about meeting
two days ago about he got a letter from the SiVest, the DA, commending him on catching
a robber someone had snuck into the newsstand next to him and grabbed a bunch of money as
the newsstand operator took a break and Derek ,a big guy, US military veteran, grabbed him
and put him in a headlock until the police were able to come
This happens quite a bit we've tried to ask the police to instead of seeing vendors
as a problem to see them as potential partners because vendors are out there they know who's
selling drugs or what's going on in their neighborhoods because they have no choice
but to be there on the street everyday Some of our vendors are friendly with their
local officers when they've been able to be a positive, when they've been able to
help the officers but the truth is that's pretty rare police tend to see vendors as
an asset, they see them as a problem.