On a brisk April Saturday evening, Mr. John Wang introduced to New York City its first-ever night market. The Yale graduate with degrees in law as well as business had quit his corporate job in order to organize a night market that was reminiscent of the ones he grew up seeing during his visits to Taiwan.
The event was a success; it surpassed the expected turnout. Before the event even began, visitors had formed long lines as they stood in anticipation. By 8pm, some of the vendors began to run out of supplies. By the end of the first night, Mr. Wang had received over one hundred vendor applications to sell at upcoming dates. Visitors eagerly stood in line—some of up to two hours—waiting for foods that showed off bold flavors and different ethnic flairs.
On a night that glorifies street vendors, celebrates their role in making New York City the diverse hot spot that it is, acknowledges their contribution in livening up the street life, and highlights the city’s demand for the amazing food that they have to offer, we must not forget that outside of these clusters of shimmering lights and tents, street vendors are treated very differently. Beginning in the early 1930s, there have been various laws that have tried to end the existence of street vending in New York. Mayor LaGuardia claimed that street vendors were uncivilized and therefore needed to be forcibly herded into indoor markets. From the 1970’s and onwards, legislation passed by Mayors Beam, Koch, and Giuliani focused on restricting streets and putting a cap on the number of vending permits available in order to reduce the number of vendors on the streets.
Today, all of the street restrictions in New York City and permit caps continue to exist. After generations of legislation aimed at eliminating street vending, police enforcement has manifested into the criminalization of street vendors. Today, street vendors are harassed by police officers, Department of Health inspectors, building owners, and business improvement districts on a daily basis. On February 14, 2014, police officers beat up Jonathan Daza, a street vendor, and arrested him along with his two sisters for not clearing his fruit stand quickly enough after his street fair permit expired. It was later revealed that police officers filed a criminal complaint that falsely accused Daza of being combative and of initiating the fight. Charges were not dropped and the Daza family was not exonerated until earlier this year. This incident serves as a testament to how street vending, a respectable profession, has been criminalized by the city.
Aside from dealing with police aggression, street vendors are constantly at the mercy of unfair and overly strict regulations. Street vendors are ticketed and even arrested for minor infractions such as having their licenses inside their jacket instead of outside, having their lanyard that displays their license accidentally flipped over while working, or having their permit concealed by tarp that hangs from the roof of the cart, among other things.
The Urban Justice Center Street Vendors Project has become the leading organization that fights for the rights of street vendors. For years they have been working on the front lines of bringing policy changes for street vendors. One of their major victories, after over 7 years of campaigning, was convincing the City Council in 2013 to reduce the maximum fine from $1000 to $500, thereby redefining street vending history.
Currently, the Street Vendors Project (SVP) is actively campaigning to get more permits and more open streets for vendors. While it is a noble and necessary purpose, it is only a temporary fix. Street vendors will continue to face harassment from institutions that have greater political sway than them until the day that the root of the problem is addressed. The root of the issue is the attitude with which street vendors are regarded. The day that every person in the city is able to walk past their local street vendor and view them with the esteem that we would with the ‘artisanal’ empanada trucks that participated in the Queens International Night Market, give them the respect that their craft deserves, and acknowledge their contribution to making New York city the beautiful place it, is the day when we can finally improve the street vendors’ conditions.
This post was written by a student enrolled in the Capstone Seminar course in the undergraduate program in public policy at Hunter College. Any opinions expressed here are solely those of the student.
