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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Carina Kaufman-Gutierrez, Deputy Director of Street Vendor Project
5:47:41
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144 sec
Carina Kaufman-Gutierrez, Deputy Director of the Street Vendor Project, testified about the need for street vendor reform and the current enforcement issues faced by street vendors in New York City. She highlighted the recent hearing on legislation to overhaul street vending regulations and emphasized the potential benefits of passing Intro 431-A.
- DSNY conducted more confiscations than tickets for street vendors in 2024, with enforcement being costly and ineffective according to Cornell University research.
- NYPD issued the highest number of summonses to street vendors in 2024, five times higher than in 2019.
- Kaufman-Gutierrez urged the council to move forward with street vendor reform, citing potential job creation and economic benefits estimated by the IBO at $59 million annually.
Carina Kaufman-Gutierrez
5:47:41
I knew I think it's working now.
5:47:43
Sorry.
5:47:43
Hi.
5:47:44
Good afternoon.
5:47:45
My name is Karina Kaufman Gutierrez, and I'm the deputy director at the Street Vendor Project.
5:47:49
Thank you, chair Brannan, for the opportunity to testify today.
5:47:53
Just last week, this council held a public hearing on legislation that will overhaul the dysfunctional status quo of street vending, allowing our city's smallest businesses to grow within a regulated, predictable, and enforceable system that bolsters the city's business and hospitality sector overall.
5:48:10
During that hearing, DSNY testified about their role as the lead agency for coordinating enforcement of street vending rules.
5:48:18
And additionally, when asked how passing Intro four thirty one would impact their work, DSNY testified that their interactions with licensed vendors are far more productive than interactions with unlicensed vendors in terms of actually addressing the issues such as time, place, and manner, violations.
5:48:35
I wanted to highlight these remarks to bring to this council's attention because I really encourage the council to if they really want to address compliance to move forward with urgency on intro four thirty one.
5:48:46
Because in terms of the current situation, perhaps no industry in New York faces enforcement from as many agencies and departments as street vending.
5:48:55
And in 2024, DSNY conducted more confiscations than tickets, over 4,300 versus just over 4,000 respectively in tickets.
5:49:05
This ticketing, researchers with Cornell University found is both costly and ineffective that DSNY operates at a nearly $21 loss per every $1 that is recouped.
5:49:16
In terms of the amount of summonses issued, both civil and criminal, despite DSNY being the lead agency, NYPD, in fact, was the agency that issued the highest number of summonses in 2024, over 9,000 total.
5:49:30
This was actually five times higher than in 2019 when the agency was the agency in charge of street vendor enforcement.
5:49:38
Now council has proposed over $7,700,000 to, in street vendor
5:49:44
Budget, yet nothing for vendor education or support.
5:49:49
And I would very much encourage council to move forward on street vendor reform so we can create opportunities, create thousands of jobs, and generate millions of dollars in the for the local economy as the IBO estimated would be $59,000,000 annually.
5:50:04
Thank you so much.
Zhikang Ling
5:49:43
Your time's expired.