Street vendors rally at City Hall to call for increase in number of city licenses

Dozens of street vendors rallied outside City Hall on Wednesday afternoon to celebrate International Street Vendor Day and call on the City Council to pass legislation that would significantly expand the number of licenses to sell food and merchandise on city sidewalks in order to protect vendors from law enforcement crackdowns.

Wednesday’s rally, organized by the Street Vendor Project, celebrated the contributions of street vendors to the culture and fabric of New York City and called on the City Council to pass Intro 431A in one of three remaining stated meetings before the end of the 2025 legislative session.

Intro 431A, introduced by Council Member Pierina Ana Sanchez, would make 2,000 additional supervisory license applications and 2,100 additional general vendor license applications available to prospective vendors every year between 2026 and 2031 in a bid to clear a legal pathway for prospective vendors.

Vendors have repeatedly stated that it is currently impossible to obtain a permit from the city because they cannot join the lengthy and closed waitlist to secure a permit. Sanchez previously stated that the backlog has forced vendors to “operate in the shadows” because they are unable to secure a permit legally.

Street vending reform about attaining ‘compliance’

Sanchez told amNewYork that Intro 431A would also ensure that more vendors comply with existing city laws. At present, she said, unlicensed vendors often operate in a manner that allows them to “pick up and run” if they suspect a crackdown by law enforcement, leading to congestion of sidewalks and stalls erected in front of fire hydrants.

By creating a pathway to a permit, the city would ensure that more vendors comply with existing laws because vendors would want to protect their legal ability to sell on the sidewalk, Sanchez said.

“If we create a system where folks have access to a permit, they would want to protect that permit, they want to protect their ability to vend, then we’re going to see more compliance,” Sanchez said.

Sanchez described the bill as a “pathway to harmony,” noting that Intro 431A prioritizes vendors who have been waiting over a decade for a permit and gives them a legal pathway to operate. She also said the legislation will punish “bad actors” who do not cooperate with existing city legislation by suspending and revoking licenses for repeated violations.

Sanchez said the current system is “broken” by restricting new vendors from applying for permits, adding that a significant proportion of the street vendor community is living in “terror” of federal immigration authorities following a highly-publicized ICE raid in Chinatown last month.

She said the city now has a “responsibility to lessen that fear” by making it easier to obtain a license and ensuring that vendors are not on the radar of ICE or other federal agencies.

Guadalupe Sosa, a second-generation street vendor in Harlem, said the current system can “put a target” on immigrant vendors’ backs by penalizing individuals who are trying to earn a living.

She further added that fines issued to vendors for operating without a permit can be devastating, stating that she received a $1,000 fine in July for operating without a permit.

Calvin Baker, who sells a variety of clothes at a stall in Harlem, says he has been waiting 30 years to secure a permit and says the current system is devastating for a variety of vendors who have been issued hefty fines for operating without a license or permit.

“We’re not criminals,” Baker said. “We’re entrepreneurs trying to become business owners.”

Baker added that he recently observe a man receive a $1,000 fine for selling water without a permit. He further added that any fine, no matter how small or large, is devastating for vendors.

Photo by Shane O’Brien.

“That’s taking food out of the mouths of your kids,” Baker said. “That’s hurting a bill somewhere.”

Baker said the fear among the predominantly immigrant vending community is “beyond belief” in the wake of ICE’s Chinatown raid last month and said many vendors are now “hiding.”

“There’s just so much fear and anxiety,” he said.

The ‘high stress’ for unlicensed vendors

C, an immigrant vendor operating in Jackson Heights who did not disclose her name, said there is high levels of fear and frustration among the street vendor community, stating that some vendors are living in a state of “high stress.”

She said she has received fines totaling $1,500 for vending without a permit and said Intro 431A would have an enormous impact on the vending community.

The Urban Justice Center, which oversees the Street Vendor Project, said most of the city’s 23,000 vendors are prohibited from obtaining a license due to a “decades-old” cap on the number of permits in circulation within New York City. Urban Justice Collective added that only one-quarter of that number have been able to obtain a permit, leaving thousands of vendors without formal recognition and subject to fines.

The City Council released an amended version of the legislation on Nov. 3, which requires stricter enforcement of city regulations and empowers agencies to revoke or suspend licenses.

Council Members Rafael Salamanca, Julie Menin and Kevin Riley have since co-sponsored the legislation, taking the total number of co-sponsors to 27.

Sanchez said the amended legislation is the result of months of feedback from a large swath of stakeholders, including brick-and-mortar businesses.

The legislation is part of a number of bills known as the Street Vendor Reform Package, which also includes Intros 408, 24 and 1251 and aims to ensure that all vendors have a “fair chance” to secure licenses for their businesses.

The package would further create a division within the NYC Department of Small Business Services, providing educational and compliance services for vendors and making conditions safer for both vendors and pedestrians alike, advocates stated last month.

The Health Department stated last month that it has issued permits to 1,107 vendors since the introduction of Local Law 445 in 2022, which mandated that the city must make up to 445 permits available annually. The Health Department said it has made 4,822 permits available since the introduction of the law, more than double than is legally required.

However, protesters said last month that the city is issuing permits in “name only,” stating that the waitlist for permits remains closed to new vendors. They also said the law is “not sufficient” to cope with the extensive wait list, which stood above 10,000 in 2024.

Sosa, who sells shaved ice and fresh fruit at her stall in Harlem, said it took her mother 23 years before she eventually got off the waitlist earlier this year. Sosa has not even been able to apply for the waitlist.

City Council spokesperson Julia Agos said street vendors form an integral part of the city’s neighborhoods, adding that the Council is committed to protecting vendors from harm to the greatest extent possible, “including criminalization and interactions with ICE.”

“Consistent with the Council’s legislative process, Int. 431 was recently amended after extensive engagement with stakeholders,” Agos said in a statement. “Along with other bills in this package, it continues to move through the legislative process, which is deliberative and allows for public input.”