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Q&A
Enforcement response to illegal vending in the 34th Street area
2:56:33
·
78 sec
Council Member Gale A. Brewer inquires about the response to 311/911 calls regarding illegal vending in the 34th Street area. Brian McGinn from the 34th Street Partnership explains the challenges they face with persistent illegal vendors and the process of calling for enforcement.
- Multiple agencies involved: police department and sanitation department
- Repeated calls necessary for enforcement action
- Same vendors repeatedly violate rules despite knowing them
- Issues with vendors refusing to leave public parks managed by the partnership
Gale A. Brewer
2:56:33
Brian, the question.
2:56:34
I know how your boss feels about this issue.
2:56:38
Yeah.
2:56:38
My question is when you call for 311911 in any case, what happens?
2:56:44
Is it that no response?
2:56:45
Because I know that you
Brian McGinn
2:56:46
you So it depends on the situation.
2:56:49
Like I said in my testimony, a lot of the vendors that we have in a in a 34 street partnership, we manage Herald Square.
2:56:55
We manage Greeley Square.
2:56:56
These are these are public parks that the the partnership manages.
2:57:00
And we'll get the same vendors every day that when we ask them to leave, they out now refuse to leave.
2:57:05
So of course, have to call the police department to take some kind of enforcement action, also the sanitation department.
2:57:12
So we call over and over 311.
2:57:14
We have a decent relationship with both agencies.
2:57:17
And this is when it gets you you know, enforcement action is taken.
2:57:21
But it's the same vendors that know the rules over and over and and they refuse to do it.
2:57:27
I invite any one of yous to to walk 30 Fourth Street with me on a nice day.
2:57:32
There's no vending on 30 Fourth Street.
2:57:33
And you'll see food cart after food cart with smoke billowing into Macy's over by the Empire State Building, Madison by Madison Square Garden.
2:57:41
You'll see vendors in front of the sou souvenir shops that call us constantly every day, and they're losing a fortune when people have their items spread out.