Sunset Park Street Vendors Say They Are Forced To Black Market For Permits

Sunset Park food truck vendors, who claim they are casualties of the city’s push against street business, pleaded their case before Sunset Park’s Community Board 7 (CB7) Wednesday night (February 17).

Heleodora Vivar-Flores and Polcarpo Cortes testified in Spanish that they have had to resort to the black market to get permits because the city’s bureaucracy has been made too complex for them to navigate.

The business owners were representing the Street Vendor Project (SVP), which advocates for the rights of the 20,000 vendors that serve the city.

Struggles for street vendors date back to 1979 and 1983, when the New York City Council put limits on how many vending licenses and permits could be issued at any given time. Food vending permits were reduced from almost 12,000 to 3,000 and merchandise licenses were “arbitrarily capped at 853,” according to SVP’s website.

“They are working on the street supporting their family and the work that they are doing is not being recognized by the city,” said SVP Senior Organizer Elise Goldin.

A permit on the black market is still very hard to come by and — according to the SVP — can cost up to $20,000 dollars.

As part of their plea, the vendors, who are Sunset Park residents, pointed out that there were more than 50  members of the Sunset Park vendor community who operate without a permit. The vendors also pointed to studies that have shown that vendors have a positive influence on the aesthetic and the character of a neighborhood.

Vendors’ livelihoods have taken a big hit from the city’s crackdowns on quality-of-life complaints in recent years, and the representatives at the community board stressed their fight is a matter of keeping families and businesses in Sunset Park from falling apart.

Following the presentation, the board — led by the Spanish-speaking Vice Chair Cesar Zuniga — decided to take the vendor’s plea a step further and set up a meeting with Councilman Carlos Menchaca under the pretext of economic development.

What do you think about the plight of these and other local street vendors?