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TESTIMONY
Testimony by Rob Burns of NYC BID: Balancing Street Vending and Pedestrian Accessibility
1:14:10
ยท
145 sec
Rob Burns, serving as the President of the East Midtown Partnership and co-chair of the New York City Business Improvement District (BID) association's working group on Street Funding, testifies on street vending policies.
Advocating for common changes to support vendors while ensuring enforcement of existing rules for pedestrian safety and storefront accessibility, Burns echoes concerns akin to the DOT's. He acknowledges support for most proposed changes but raises objections to conditions that may hinder pedestrian movement and access.
Speaker 25
1:14:10
There we go.
1:14:12
Good afternoon.
1:14:13
My name is Rob Burns, and I'm testifying today on behalf of the New York City excuse me.
1:14:18
New York City did association.
1:14:21
Which I serve as cochair of the working group on Street Funding.
1:14:25
I'm also the President East Midtown Partnership.
1:14:28
Which, of course, is represented in part by council member men, and we congratulate her on this chairmanship as well as other members of the committee on their new term.
1:14:40
We look forward to continuing to work together.
1:14:44
The bid association has been at the forefront of conversations around street funding policy for years.
1:14:50
We welcome common sense changes to laws that'll make it easier for street vendors to make a living, but believe those changes should occur in conjunction with the enforcement of existing rules.
1:15:01
Responsible slight citing criteria, and other regulations meant to ensure things like a clear path for pedestrians.
1:15:09
The maintenance of a reasonable distance from storefront businesses and accessibility for those with mobility challenges.
1:15:17
We have significant concerns about T75, although which are without Without repeating everything you've heard, they are virtually identical to what you heard from DOT.
1:15:31
We have looked at the legislation.
1:15:33
We have a different rotation than others.
1:15:35
We are glad that council member, Dularosa, is open to looking at cleaning up the language to to make sure that we're all on the same page.
1:15:46
We are concerned that as written, it would allow it would it would allow vendors to vent inside obstructions, including things like tree beds, where if you take a three foot tree bed and a five foot cart, you could end up taking more than half a pedestrian clearance away.
1:16:07
So we for those reasons, we object to that while we do support, as you'll see in my written testimony, most of the other legislation that's here.
1:16:14
And so We thank you again for your time, and we hope the stakeholders will continue to be all stakeholders will continue to be part of this discussion because we want to fix this system.
1:16:25
Thank you.
Speaker 12
1:16:31
Oh, sorry.
1:16:32
Sorry.
1:16:32
I didn't realize we were going in order.