A video posted on the X account of Labor Reporter Amir Khafagy went viral this month, showing how Blanca Alvarado, a 44-year-old Ecuadorian immigrant, lost her only source of income when her food cart was destroyed by the NYPD, a move that street vendor advocates say violated her 14th Amendment rights.
In response to the aggressive enforcement, Khafagy wrote in a news report for Documented that vendors are calling for the city to increase the number of permits available so they can legally sell goods on city streets.
The video and news report have brought renewed attention to the struggles of street vendors in New York City, and raises questions about what comprehensive data there is about the vendors who provide economic activity that fuels the city’s streets.
It also brought to light a dysfunctional ticketing system for street vending that has existed for several years.
To sell, lease or offer services in the public streets of New York City, you need a General Vendor license to sell merchandise or a Mobile Food Vending (MFV) permit and license to sell food.
The General Vendor license for merchandise is issued by the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) — formerly the Department of Consumer Affairs — and is limited by law to 853 total permits for non-veteran applicants. Currently, there is a massive backlog of 10,809 New Yorkers waitlisted for a merchandise permit. With so many seeking a permit, the city has paused new applications since 2016.
In a new report published this month, the Immigration Research Initiative (IRI) analyzed the Street Vendor Project’s survey data using statistical weights provided by Jonathan Auerbach from George Mason University so that the findings in the new report represent the total number of street vendors that operate in the city. The study found that there are 23,000 street vendors in New York City, and of that number, 20,500 are mobile food vendors, while 2,400 are general merchandise vendors.
Of the 20,500 mobile food vendors, a key question is whether they have permits. Majority do not as a result of the limited number of permits available.
Only 4 out of every 100 street vendors, who are not veterans, were born in the United States. In other words, 96% were born in a country outside of the United States. The top five countries of origin being Mexico (30%), Ecuador (24%), Egypt (20%), Senegal (7%), and the U.S. (4%).
陈学理胜选凸显华人社区“右转”
Immigrant communities that have been in the U.S. for longer are more likely to have become established among vendors with permits, while immigrants who are undocumented are more likely to be unlicensed or unpermitted, though many vendors who report being undocumented do have licenses and permits, according to the new report from IRI. And while women and men are equally represented among street vendors, women are less likely to have licenses or permits.
Read the full report from the Immigration Research Initiative.
Documented’s Community Correspondent for Spanish Speaking Communities, Rommel H. Ojeda, and Labor Reporter, Amir Khafagy contributed reporting
