TESTIMONY
Carina Kaufman-Gutierrez, Deputy Director of the Street Vendor Project, on the Enforcement Practices and Lack of Support for Street Vendors in New York City
5:49:36
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4 min
Kaufman-Gutierrez criticizes the discrepancy between the stated compliance-first approach to street vending enforcement and the reality of frequent ticketing for vending without a license.
- She raises concerns about the use of armed sanitation police for enforcement and calls for them to wear body cameras.
- She highlights the disproportionate targeting of lower-income areas like the Bronx for enforcement.
- She contrasts the $2.9 million budget for enforcement with zero staff dedicated to street vendor outreach and education.
- She advocates for comprehensive reform to create stability and economic opportunity for street vendors.
Carina Kaufman-Gutierrez
5:49:36
Alright.
5:49:37
Good afternoon.
5:49:37
Share Brandon, council member and comes to member Holden.
5:49:40
My name is Karina Kaufman Gutierrez, and I'm the deputy director at the Street vendor project.
5:49:45
So I really want to thank translators and the staff who's really made it possible for everyone to testify today.
5:49:51
We're here today to provide insight into the current landscape of street bending.
5:49:55
Department of sanitation commissioner has stated publicly in several hearings before this counsel that they would take a compliance first approach to provide warnings to noncompliant vendors, and then later conduct enforcement rather than a licensed first approach.
5:50:10
An acknowledgment of how broken the city's permitting system is.
5:50:14
However, in practice, it's important to acknowledge that more than half of the tickets issued by the street vendor in enforcement officers between April 1, 2023, April 1st this year were for vending without a license or a permit.
5:50:26
Indirect contradiction of the promise sanitation's own policies.
5:50:32
The arm of the Department of Sanitation that oversee street funding is not civilian employees.
5:50:36
These are sanitation police officers authorized by the city of New York to carry weapons and able to issue criminal summonses.
5:50:44
We strongly encourage counsel to require sanitation police to wear body cameras just as law enforcement agents are required to do.
5:50:52
The enforcement agents are out every day issuing $1000 tickets to someone serving fresh squeezed orange juice than hauling their nonperishable items to the only low location in the city where items are held in East New York in a parking lot that's a 34 minute walk from the nearest subway station.
5:51:08
This destructive cycle is harming New Yorkers who are already living day to day, struggling to keep a roof over their heads and raise their families here.
5:51:17
In the last year, vendors in the Bronx received 29% more tickets from sanitation than they had from DCWP in the previous year.
5:51:25
Like no other bureau experienced.
5:51:28
I ask why is the bureau with the lowest average income now the most frequently targeted for vending?
5:51:35
Lastly, we must highlight how widely disproportionate resources are that go to the enforcement instead of licensing and education.
5:51:42
Department of sanitation has a $2,900,000 budget for the Office of Street vendor enforcement with a headcount of 40 employees, which is set to increase to 4,700,000 by fiscal year 27.
5:51:53
Meanwhile, the agency that is supposed to, if I could just if I may, supposed to conduct street vendor outreach and education, SBS, has 0 staff dedicated to outreach.
5:52:05
The only outreach they have done, in fact, is mail this one pamphlet to all street vendors on a waiting list that says, we have the resources street vendors need to operate and expand, and we all know that they do not.
5:52:20
We also must emphasize that this is the only warning that the Department of Sanitation gives out to street vendors.
5:52:28
What it reads is NYC law enforcement personnel have observed you operating a street vending business at a time location and or a manner that violates an New York administrative code by either not having a vending license.
5:52:41
Your vending display was measured larger than 8 feet by 3 feet and your items may have been displayed on a parking on a walkway without the use of a table.
5:52:50
This frankly and respectfully, the city should be truly embarrassed that this is what is being offered as outreach and education to the hardworking street bender of New York City who are small business owners trying to survive and to provide for their families.
5:53:07
We really need comprehensive of the street vending system to create stability, order, and economic opportunity, and communities in need.
5:53:16
And we respect Feliascity Council beyond this hearing to look into the Street vendor reform legislative package, including intros 431, 408, 4724 that will provide a regulated, predictable enforcement system and give street vendors a real chance to build wealth in their neighborhoods.
5:53:35
Thank you.
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Carla Rodriguez, Street Vendor and Member of the Street Vendor Project, on the Negative Impacts of Street Vending Enforcement and Need for Reform
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Mohamed Attia, Managing Director of the Street Vendor Project, on the Need for Reforming New York City's Dysfunctional Street Vending System
