Mayor Mike Bloomberg, right, walked up to disabled veteran street vendors protesting near City Hall on Tuesday. Bloomberg is lobbying Albany to pass a new law that would prohibit all vendors near the World Trade Center site, Times Square and other specific locations throughout the city. Bloomberg promised the vendors that he would discuss their concerns with Albany legislators. Richard Smith, center, said he was a veteran of the first Gulf War and that his son was currently serving in Iraq. He said the new law would cut down his ability to make a living on Tines Square. The bill seemed close to passing a few weeks ago, but has once again hit a snag. A person in Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s office said that the issue of whether vendors would be required to be fingerprinted is once again causing the delay. The issue was one of the reasons the bill did not pass at the end of last year. The Democratic-controlled Assembly is against fingerprinting and the Republican-controlled State Senate is for it.
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