TESTIMONY
Testimony by Mohammad Attia from the Street Vendor Project at the Urban Justice Center: Advocating for a Fair Vending System
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171 sec
Mohammad Attia, Managing Director of the Street Vendor Project at the Urban Justice Center, addresses the City Council.
He extends appreciation for the opportunity to testify, underscoring the organization's role in advocating for a fair vending system.
Attia highlights the necessity of discussing permits and licenses within the vending system, showing support for bills enhancing street vending but raising concerns about specific provisions. He particularly focuses on T202471, which proposes allowing vendors on bridge pathways, pointing out potential issues with enforcement and the proposed distance regulation between vendors.
Speaker 19
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Good afternoon.
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Thank you all for having us here.
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My name is Mohammad Atheria.
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I'm the managing director of the chief and the project at the urban justice center.
0:50:47
Would like to thank Chairman and the committee for the opportunity to testify today.
0:50:52
The shareholder project is a member led organization with 3 1000 of shareholder members We organize with the vendors.
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We advocate.
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We are hoping to have a Justin Fair System in our cities.
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And, of course, we provide essential services that the streamers community needs.
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The bills before you today are essential to move us forward towards a fair vending system.
0:51:11
Although the bills being discussed today are important and helpful, For all the chief vendors, the most essential part is a lift out of this conversation, which is the lack of permits or licenses.
0:51:21
So we are encouraging the city council and committee to have a hearing on the most essential part of the vending system very, very soon.
0:51:29
So we can talk about what a fair system should look like.
0:51:33
I want to express my support to all the chief ending bells that are being discussed today, and I want to extend more on the intent of t202471 to allow vendors to set up on bridge pathways.
0:51:47
So when we look at how the city regulates treatmenting, on bridges right now, just the wholesale ban.
0:51:53
Vendors are not allowed, although they have been there and operating for tickets.
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As you know, the DOT recently rolled this ban, and many, many vendors lost their livelihoods completely.
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A lot of those are military veterans.
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Immigrants newly arrived asylum seekers.
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And we wanna acknowledge that more rules and enforcement may be needed to ensure that britishians have safe passage and vendors can continue to coexist on the bridge pathways.
0:52:21
However, we have some concerns with how the bill is written right now.
0:52:26
Karenville prohibits vending on bridge on the bridges period, but also it allows vending where there are sixteen foot clear pedestrian path.
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We wanna make sure that there is language that is amended to clarify that vendors are affirmatively allowed to vent on paths that meet this width requirement.
0:52:45
Few more seconds to just wrap up that point.
Speaker 1
0:52:48
Yeah.
0:52:48
Presley, please.
Speaker 19
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And also the proposal required 20 feet between each vendor is pretty problematic because in a way there is no real way to enforce it.
0:52:58
Back in the seventies, there was a similar rule that requires a specific distance between each two vendors that was chalked down by the courts for being unconstitutional y vague, and it is really difficult to, in a way, comply with this rule or even enforce it.
0:53:12
You can imagine an example when a police enforcement officer would show up and say, like, there is less than 20 feet between 2 vendors who is here first who is liable for this violation, it could get really messy.
0:53:25
So we hope that the bill would be amended to reflect that.
0:53:28
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1
0:53:29
Thank you.
