Street vendors find community support, but face tough city regulations

In a city famous for its street vendors, few neighborhoods rival the vitality of Sunset Park’s sidewalk commerce. Selling an array of fresh produce, regional foods, clothes, jewelry, household wares, and more, the vendors along our avenues contribute to the community’s characteristically bustling, multicultural street life. However, the legality of these enterprises using public space remains controversial, and city regulations are often at odds with the interests of both vendors and their customers.

According to the city’s street vending code, food vendors are supposed to hold both a vendor license for the person and a city-issued permit for the cart or stand. The Department of Health is responsible for enforcing these rules, including hours and commercial limits. In reality, many vendors hold a license but operate without a permit, since the city caps the number of mobile food vending permits and the waitlist has not accepted new names for years.

Because the city has issued only a limited number of permits for decades, a grey market has emerged in which permit holders lease their permits to other vendors. A permit legally costs around two hundred dollars for a two-year term, but some reports estimate that leasing one on the grey market can cost as much as $25,000 a year, depending on location and demand.

“There is much more to it than just rules and regulations, especially in a community as friendly to vendors as Sunset Park,” says David Estrada, executive director of the Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District. Under his leadership, the BID is tasked with making Sunset Park’s Fifth Avenue, from 38th to 64th Street, a great place to shop, live, and do business. He believes the health of the street vending culture is crucial to the neighborhood’s prosperity.

Historically, street commerce was regulated by the NYPD before oversight shifted to the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, and finally to the Department of Health, which currently manages, supervises, and enforces street vending regulations.

Following a surge in street vending during COVID, in 2021 the New York City Council created the Office of Street Vendor Enforcement and the Street Vendor Advisory Board. The goal was to make recommendations and ensure that rules and laws are followed, balancing the needs of vendors and the communities where they sell.

Estrada is working to shape policies that bring vendors under the protection of the law. “I’m trying to make sure vendors aren’t discriminated against,” he says.

Estrada stresses the need for official legalization, favoring decriminalization and the classification of violations as civil rather than criminal offenses. “Vendors are providing a service,” he says. “For every person complaining, there’s another buying from them.”

Despite differences of opinion, street vendors are an integral part of the Sunset Park community, and they all have stories to tell.

Alfonso Vega, 78, has lived in Sunset Park for 28 years. Originally from Honduras, he came to New York to work in construction, but a serious accident left him permanently disabled. Alfonso sells clothes and shoes on 45th Street and Fourth Avenue without a permit. “It’s not something I like, but if I could work or sell legally, I would,” he explains.

Veteran exemptions make it easier for some people to obtain certain general vendor licenses, but those exemptions do not apply to the food cart permits most vendors need. The difficulty is not the license itself, which most vendors can get by taking a safety course. It is the near impossibility of securing a permit, which remains capped and tied to a closed waitlist.

Alina has been selling on the street for 18 years. She says she has sold all kinds of things, but at her stand on Fifth Avenue and 53rd Street she now offers chocolate, coffee, snacks, and accessories. “You have to pay your way in life,” she says. “This is how I manage.” Operating her business without a permit, she is vulnerable to police enforcement.

For vendors like Vega and Alina, good news came in September when the City Council overrode Mayor Adams’s veto of a bill passed earlier in the year. The bill makes most vending infractions civil rather than criminal, replacing potential jail time with fines.

Even with this change, vendors who are able to sell legally have far greater security. Alex, who has spent two years selling horchatas, aguas frescas, and tacos from his stand at Fifth Avenue and 52nd Street, says, “When you have a permit, you pay taxes, but you also have a job and peace of mind.”

Araceli, who has a permit and runs a fruit stand, says, “A fixed salary sounds nice, but here on the street there’s a benefit for people and for my own economy.” The vast majority of street vendors in the city are immigrants, and Araceli sees selling food and goods on the street as a way for these residents to better their prospects.

Ligia, 69, a neighbor and regular shopper at the Fifth Avenue and 53rd Street stalls, puts it in stronger terms. “If you want to work, you work,” she says. “If not, you steal. That’s what happens in our countries.”

While most vendors in the neighborhood live nearby, some travel long distances to participate in Sunset Park’s street vending economy. Luis, 68, lives in Queens and sells ice cream in Sunset Park. “I’ve been selling for about 20 years, but the competition keeps growing,” he says. “I prefer this neighborhood because people are more willing to buy.”

Sunset Park’s culture is rooted in community life, and opinions about who should or can sell on the street tend to favor those who contribute positively to the area.

The neighborhood’s fruit vendors are some of the most frequented stalls. “The fruit is fresher, they give you a little extra, and you help the community and the vendors,” says Luis Garcia, a regular shopper on Fifth Avenue.

“The stuff they sell is cheap and good,” says Eric Pruna, another frequent street buyer. “I buy often, and I contribute to the neighborhood.”

Nearby businesses share this view as long as vendors follow the rules of the street, operate safely, keep the sidewalk clean, and maintain a respectful distance from storefronts. “[The taco stand on the corner] doesn’t affect business because people’s tastes are different,” says Diana from La Brasa Peruana on Fifth Avenue and 47th Street. “There’s room for everyone.”

After ICE raids on vendors on Canal Street on October 29, there has been renewed pressure for the City Council to remove the cap on general vending licenses. If successful, it would have significant implications for vendors in Sunset Park, potentially allowing many more to operate legally.