QUESTION
Council Member De La Rosa Questions Street Vendor Project on Sidewalk Space
1:02:23
·
5 min
Council Member De La Rosa seeks clarification from the Street Vendor Project regarding her bill aimed at increasing sidewalk space for vendors.
Through a series of questions, she addresses misconceptions about the bill decreasing pedestrian space and explores enforcement rates for current street vending regulations. The discussion highlights the potential effects of the bill on vendor safety and pedestrian accessibility, as well as inconsistencies in city agency regulations.
Speaker 14
1:02:23
Thank you.
1:02:24
I wanna walk us through a few questions because I'd like to clarify the record.
1:02:28
There's a lot of misunderstanding on what my bill does and what it doesn't do, and thank you for bringing the tape measure.
1:02:36
And I just wanna ask in your opinion what is your understanding of how the legislation reads at this moment.
1:02:41
So in your opinion, as of this moment, when a vendor is close to the curb by one foot in a butts the curb.
1:02:52
What are the the perils to that vendor at this time.
1:02:58
And what are the share the shared spaces at this time that the vendor has to contend with?
Speaker 21
1:03:02
Thank you for this question.
1:03:05
So being a foot and a half or less from the curb means that you basically have enough space for your foot.
1:03:12
And then whatever space you have to try to navigate around.
1:03:15
Right?
1:03:16
So this really if you're standing behind the cart.
1:03:18
So really what this does is it forces vendors who are standing behind the cart or who are entering loading food items into their cart coming out from the pushing them into potential peril of falling into the bike lane, of falling into the the roadway.
1:03:36
Really, what this bill does is extend by a mere 6 inches the ability that they'll be able to set up from the curbside.
1:03:43
So that they can have just a little bit more space for safety.
Speaker 14
1:03:46
So the DOT testified that this bill would decrease the amount of space for pedestrians on the sidewalk and negatively of affect the pedestrian experience throughout the city, especially in crowded crowded sidewalks.
1:03:58
I'm familiar with crowded sidewalks.
1:04:01
Have you been to 181 Street in district, you've seen a crowded sidewalk.
1:04:05
Can you explain to me in your experience?
1:04:07
Would this bill decrease pedestrian space?
Speaker 21
1:04:11
It's a great question.
1:04:12
In my experience and I'm a a resident of council member Christians district in Jackson Heights where we have as an equally Brent Street Funding community.
1:04:21
That's part of the culture.
1:04:22
Right?
1:04:23
And so what this bill really will do is it will continue the tradition of strict time, place, and manner for street vending rules and regulations that with when couple with the enforcement from Department of Sanitation continues to be able to maintain those rules.
1:04:41
This does not impact more than these 6 inches of separation from the curb, any change in that manner.
Speaker 14
1:04:48
And in your experience, one last question in your experience, what is the enforcement rates at this time around the foot and a half rule as it exists today?
Speaker 21
1:04:59
Especially, I can speak from the experiences of our members in Times Square and of Hudson Yards from Mohammed Awad here.
1:05:06
There's constant enforcement.
1:05:08
You know, this is something that we actually give our members to the little SVP logo.
1:05:13
Mhmm.
1:05:13
Because our members really truly go out every day when they're setting up to make sure that they're checking the exact space that they have from the curbside.
1:05:24
Because if not, there is enforcement that happens continuously, be it from DOT, be it from DSNY, be it from Parks department, it's very important
Speaker 22
1:05:34
for that.
Speaker 19
1:05:35
If I may, I'd council member, just a few seconds.
1:05:38
I would love to also use some of these photos and designs that we have if you wanna just pass me the whole thing.
1:05:44
So it is really sad to hear a duty today.
1:05:47
Just talking about the ability and access changing.
1:05:51
Like, actually nothing will change.
1:05:54
As of now, this is how the system looks like.
1:05:59
Just wanna clarify.
1:06:00
This is the biggest vending setup, which is a food car that is 5 feet wide.
1:06:04
And as you can see, no vendor can set up in any sidewalk that is narrower than 12 feet.
1:06:11
The bill states that that's not changing.
1:06:14
Now what's changing is that if you have a situation where you have some ballers and you have so much space in front of the baller, in front of the obstruction, vendors can still set up pretty much keeping the same distance minus 6 inches.
1:06:32
So this whole thing, this whole fight is about 6 inches.
1:06:35
If that's a lot for the duty to accept, we can meet them with the at But if you have a sidewalk that is narrower than 12 feet or the obstruction is making the pathway less than 12 feet wide, vending will not be allowed regardless of the setup, regardless of the type of vending, regardless of where the vendors will be, whether a four and a half or not.
1:06:56
The other thing about this bill that is very important to highlight is that you have city agencies contradicting one another.
1:07:03
You have DOH explaining the rule to be 6 to 12 inches.
1:07:08
That's how close they want the food cards to set up.
1:07:11
And then you have oath say in 18 inches.
1:07:13
So the city agencies are not aligned on how this rule should be interpreted And at the end of the day, the vendors are paying the price for that confusion.
1:07:21
So having a set number will help go a long way to make sure that everyone is on the same page.
Speaker 14
1:07:28
Thank you so much, sir.
Speaker 1
1:07:29
Thank you.
1:07:30
And our council member, Krishnan.