To the Editor,
The following open letter was sent to Mayor Bill de Blasio, Deputy Mayor J. Philip Thompson, Deputy Mayor Vicki Been, Commissioner of Small Business Services Jonnel Doris and Commissioner of Community Affairs Roberto Perez on July 23.
We are writing in response to the recent NYPD crackdown on street vendors, New York City’s smallest businesses, on Fordham Road in the Bronx.
For too long, street vendors have been treated like criminals by police, when in reality these are small businesses run primarily by immigrants, women and people of color, that feed our communities, contribute to the local economy, and enrich the culture of our city. Like other small businesses, vendors have been decimated by the COVID-19 pandemic. We are appalled by your decision to send the New York Police Department to harass the hard working entrepreneurs on Fordham Road on Wednesday, July 21, going back on your statement in June 2020 that NYPD would no longer be involved in street vending. How can you honor vendors as essential workers in the Hometown Heroes Parade, and now send officers to harass them for providing an essential service?
You cannot continue a vending system that is inherently inequitable and then rain down police to enforce it. For decades, vendors have been forced to work excluded from the formal economy, subject to antiquated regulation spurred by larger business interests, and unable to access the business licensing they so desperately need. The only thing accomplished by calling for punitive enforcement on unlicensed street vendors is the reinforcement of a system that criminalizes poverty, rather than supporting entrepreneurship so desperately needed to stimulate the economy.
Neighborhoods with a strong small business community that include vendors as well as brick-and-mortar businesses are the foundation of a successful and vibrant commercial corridor, and fueling division only hurts our city’s recovery. Now that some New Yorkers have turned to vending because of the pandemic, the city should do more to encourage this entrepreneurship, rather than viewing it as a “quality of life” problem that needs NYPD enforcement.
Mayor de Blasio, we call on you to keep your word to our city’s essential workers and ensure the NYPD is no longer involved in street vendor enforcement.
New York State Senate
Jessica Ramos, District 13
Jabari Brisport, District 25
Robert Jackson, District 31
Gustavo Rivera, District 33
Alessandra Biaggi, District 34
New York State Assembly
Khaleel Anderson, District 31
Jessica González-Rojas, District 34
Diana Richardson, District 43
Robert Carroll, District 44
Catalina Cruz, District 39
Emily Gallagher, District 50
Marcela Mitaynes, District 51
Harvey Epstein, District 74
Yuh-Line Niou, District 65
Jose Rivera, District 78
Kenny Burgos, District 85
New York City Council
Margaret Chin, District 1
Helen Rosenthal, District 6
Diana Ayala, District 8
Jimmy Van Bramer, District 26
Antonio Reynoso, District 34
Carlos Menchaca, District 38
Brad Lander, District 39
Organizations
161st Street Business Improvement District
City Workers for Justice
Food Chain Workers Alliance
Immigration Advocates Network
Jews for Racial and Economic Justice
Laundry Workers Center
Make the Road New York
National Day Laborer Organizing Network
New York Communities for Change
New York City Artist Coalition
New York Immigration Coalition
Queens Mutual Aid Network
Queens Neighborhoods United
Street Vendor Project, Urban Justice Center
Transportation Alternatives
The Riders Alliance”
