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Q&A
Council Member Menin criticizes SBS's data collection and outreach efforts
1:07:17
·
3 min
Council Member Julie Menin expresses frustration with SBS's lack of specific data on their support for street vendors and questions their outreach efforts. SBS Chief of Staff Haris Khan defends their approach, citing concerns about creating barriers for vulnerable communities and explaining their collaborative efforts with other agencies.
- Menin criticizes SBS for not having disaggregated data on help provided to street vendors.
- SBS explains they avoid asking questions that might deter engagement from vulnerable communities, including immigrant entrepreneurs.
- Khan highlights SBS's involvement in outreach efforts for supervisory licenses, including partnering with the Street Vendor Project.
- Menin expresses frustration with SBS's inability to quantify their outreach efforts to street vendors specifically.
- The discussion ends with Menin emphasizing the need for better outreach and opportunities for vendors to cure issues before receiving violations.
Julie Menin
1:07:17
Okay.
1:07:18
And I I guess I wanna go back to SBS cause I I still I'm troubled by your answer that you don't have any data on help for street vendors.
1:07:26
I mean, I just as someone who previously served as commissioner of DCWP, we aggregated data.
1:07:33
We always tried to make sure that we were being responsive.
1:07:35
And I'm concerned that just saying you don't keep any data, it just seems like a non response to me.
1:08:29
But are you going out to visit with them?
1:08:31
So like for DCWP, I can say with firsthand knowledge that DCWP does an excellent job in terms of going out to businesses, letting them know how to cure fines before receiving any kind of violation.
1:08:45
What kind of work are you doing for street vendors?
1:08:47
Are you going out to street vendors?
1:08:49
Are you meeting with them?
1:08:50
Are you explaining about sort of the regulatory environment and all of that?
1:08:55
You need to meet them where they are.
1:09:34
So can you quantify in the past year how many times has SBS gone out into the field to meet with street vendors?
1:09:47
This a very frustrating non answer.
1:09:49
I mean, again, one of the things that we're trying to do, this is like a We have so many complaints on a number of different issues regarding the vending situation.
1:10:01
Some in terms of enforcement, but some in terms of outreach and making sure that vendors understand what resources exist at the city level, also making sure that there are opportunities to cure before going right to a violation.
1:10:17
So I'll leave it at that, and I'll turn it over to my colleague Councilmember Sanchez for her questioning.
Haris Khan
1:07:41
Chairman, we did not say we don't keep any data.
1:07:44
I think what we're sharing here to the council is we're concerned about adding the kinds of questions that might deter engagement participation from vulnerable communities, including the street vending community.
1:07:54
That includes many immigrant entrepreneurs.
1:07:56
Our services are accessible.
1:07:58
We do serve street vendors.
1:07:59
I think a difference with my colleague from DCWP and other agencies is we don't issue licenses for street vending.
1:08:05
Therefore, we don't have, categories of data associated with that particular license type.
1:08:10
What we do provide is services that are broadly accessible.
1:08:13
And so when a New Yorker accesses our service, we have general questions that we need to track participation, but create we do not create additional barriers that may make them think twice, especially in the moment that we're living in, about whether they should engage with the city agency and benefit from
1:08:57
And we're really proud of the work of meeting them where they are.
1:08:59
And that's why when the council, when the administration decided to issue supervisory licenses, we were out there with DOHMH, partnered with the Street Vendor Project, made sure the materials were in language, and not only organized a virtual webinar but made sure it was physical and virtual to accommodate the needs of the vending community.
1:09:17
And that work continues.
1:09:18
I think one of the things that we're looking forward to is as there is more clarity on the licensing landscape here, we would be involved in that partnership across the city agencies.
1:09:28
If there are licenses that are increased in any category, we will be a partner to those agencies in getting the word out.
1:09:41
I can't, off the top of my head, share because we don't disaggregate the data of whether the business we're interacting with